The Puzzle with Scattered Pieces
by kiki-kurdy
Summary: sequal to SOMETHING UNPREDICTABLE. a story about Kirsten, Sandy and Gerogia when the boys leave 4 college. WOW I UPDATED! SURPRISED?
1. The Butterfly Effect

**THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT**

"I can't believe my babies are going off to college!" Kirsten said teary eyed. Seth rolled his eyes yet again as he, Ryan and the rest of the Cohens stood on the driveway about to take off to go to college. "I am so proud of you both." Sandy said.

"Yes dad we know. You've said that before." Seth said.

"And I'll say it again." Sandy said.

"Oh!" Kirsten said pulling them into a tight hug yet again. Ryan hugged her back tightly but Seth stood motionless simply sighing.

Georgia laughed. "C'mon mum." She said pulled Kirsten back. "You've still got me for another three years."

"Oh no. I am never letting you go." She said wrapping her arms tightly around Georgia from behind who was laughing.

"We better go if we wanna get there in time for orientation." Ryan said checking his watch.

"No, no, no! I won't let you leave!" Kirsten said going in for another hug. Seth put his arms out and stopped her. "Mum we'll be back to visit in a few weeks."

"Have you got enough boxers?" She asked.

"Mum…" Seth whined.

"Money?" Kirsten asked.

"Yes." Ryan said.

"Condoms?"

"Mum!" Seth yelled and Ryan blushed while Georgia giggled to herself. Georgia started to make faces at Seth and Ryan. "Ha ha!" She mouthed.

"Shut up." Ryan said.

"I didn't say anything!" Georgia said spitefully grinning.

"I didn't say anything." Ryan said in a mocking high voice.

"Stop that!" Georgia whined.

"Meee meee" Ryan mocked her.

"Ryan shut up!"

"E ee ee e!" Ryan said again.

"Dad! Make him stop!"

"Ryan, stop teasing your baby sister." Sandy said warningly.

"Ok, let's fly." Seth said walking to the car. Georgia ran up to Seth and gave him a hug before he could climb in. Seth stood for a moment surprised then smiled and wrapped his arms around her. Her messed up her hair. "Later GG." Sandy and Kirsten then moved over to Seth for goodbye hugs.

Georgia jumped in front of Ryan. They did a very cute secret handshake thing then embraced in a hug. " 'll miss you GG."

"You too Ry'."

"Mwa." Kirsten placed a kiss on Ryan's cheek.

When they finally drove off Kirsten took a deep breathe as tears fell from her eyes. Sandy put his arm around her and kissed her temple. "They'll be fine." He said.

"I know." Kirsten said softly. She then laughed. "Look at Georgia." She said who was running beside the car down the road.

"I'm gonna get the necklace." Sandy said. "Before she gets back."

As Georgia walked back in the house Sandy whisked into the living area grinning slightly and hiding his hands behind his back. "You're looking very mischievous." Georgia said. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing." Sandy said innocently.

"Yes you are; behind your back." She said moving towards him. "What is it?"

Sandy turned keeping her from getting behind him. "Show me!" Georgia laughed as she ran around him. She managed to grab a box, a jewellery box, from his hands. "What's this?" She asked.

"Open it." Sandy said.

Georgia did. Inside was a lovely silver heart necklace on a delicate chain. It had hope engraved on it. Georgia took it out and gasped. "Dad I love it! It's so beautiful. Thank you!" She hugged him. "What's this for?"

Sandy shrugged. "No reason."

Kirsten came out the kitchen speaking frantically. "Now the boys are gone I have so much more free time. I have to find something to do to keep me busy. I'll learn to cook."

"What? No, no, no! Honey, no!" Sandy said with fearful eyes.

"Yes. I'll learn to cook. And I'll go to tap dancing classes. I've always wanted to tap dance."

"Since when?" Georgia smirked.

"Always but I've never had the time to and now I do so I can. And I can go to the gym."

"When have you ever gone to the gym?" Sandy asked.

"Never. My point exactly. I better go book those tap dancing classes."

"Honey honey." Sandy said grabbing onto her arm before she went to get the phone. "If you want to do something useful you should go food shopping. We have no food in this pad."

"Dad pad? No, don't say pad."

"I tell you what, lets all go together. I've got nothing to do and it'll take our mind off the boys." Sandy said.

**At Publix… **

Georgia stood at the back of the store undecided. "_Apple-y Ever After_? _Cookie Dough? Cherry Garcia? Fossil Fuel? Triple Caramel Chunk! "_Ugh! Why are there so many choices?" Georgia groaned. She stepped back two paces leaning back to see Kirsten. "Mum! Can't I have?-"

"One…" Kirsten cut her off, not even turning to look at her, keeping her eyes wandering over the crisps in front of her.

She sighed and stepped back. "Russum fussum russum…" She mumbled.

Georgia sighed and looked up into the curved mirror in the ceiling of the supermarket. In it she could see down the isles to the front of the store. She looked carefully and saw a suspicious looking man rummaging through a backpack. He brought out a black box. He held it in his hand and was throwing it down on the ground when Georgia realised it was a bomb in his hand. "Oh sh-"

BOOM! In a huge blast shelves toppled over and items fell off and flew through threw the air. People were screaming but everything felt like it was happening in slow motion. With the force of the explosion, Georgia was thrown back to the end of the store. She groaned in pain her back slammed into the glass fridge doors. She slid down to the ground, wincing in pain. She looked down at her hands. She was sitting in broken glass and her hands and arms were all cut up. She looked up around her and ignored the pain.

Before her was a fire at the front of the store. She heard a girl, among others, screaming. She stood up, occasionally flinching. She started to walk down to the front of the store. Georgia was shocked when a girl, around 7, came running up to her in flames. Georgia immediately acted; ripping up a tablecloth packet and she threw it over the girl and patted her down. The girl fell to the floor. But by the time Georgia stopped the fire it was too late. The girl was dead. Georgia felt like crying. She had heard horrible tales about a little girl running down the street on fire after an atomic bomb. Never did she think she would be faced with a situation quite like this.

Georgia stood up and started walking back to the end of the store on a search to find her parents. "Mum…Dad…" She called out repeatedly. Crunching of broken glass, boxes and food squished beneath her feet. "Mum!" She yelled. As she got closer to the end where she was and she swore she heard a moan. She quickened her pace. "Mum! Mum where are you?" She looked down the isles the last three on her right hand side had toppled over. She nearly screamed when under the shelve, the second isle from the end, she saw her mum. Kirsten had been caught under the shelve from her lower back down. She was lying on her stomach grimacing in pain, her petite frame unable to cope with the weight of the elephantine shelve.

"Oh my god, mum!" Georgia said as she crouched by her. "It's ok. I'm gonna get you out." Georgia tried to lift it off her but it was too heavy. "Someone! Someone help me, please!" She cried. She ran round to the other side of the isle. She thought it might be easier for her to lift it if there were fewer items on it. She reached over to pull them off but a throbbing pain started in her side. "Ahh!" She screamed pulling back. She looked down at her side and saw a small dagger of glass in her side. "Eeschk!" She said surprised. She pulled it out. "Ow ow ow!" She moaned.

She ignored how she felt when a young black guy, who worked in the supermarket, came up to her. "You need help?"

"Oh yes please! You've got to help me lift this up; my mum's stuck!"

"Ok." He went round to the centre of the shelves. "1,2,3!" He said and he and Georgia managed to lift it up. "Pull her out. I got it." He said. Georgia slowly let go then quickly dove down on the ground pulling her mum clearly out of the way of the shelves. The shelves fell out the guys arms and slammed onto the floor.

He started to cough. "You ok?" She asked as she turned Kirsten over. "I'm asthmatic." He said. The supermarket was starting to get really smoky.

Georgia bent down in front of Kirsten. She wiped the loose strands of hair off her burning and sweaty forward. "Mum, are you ok?"

"I can't feel my legs." Kirsten said through laboured breaths.

Georgia looked at the guy's nametag. "Shaun, help me carry her outside." He hooked his arms under hers and Georgia took her legs. "Over here." He said. "The fire escape."

They carried her outside and laid her down outside up against a wall opposite the burning building. "Sandy?" Kirsten asked weakly. "Where is he?"

"I'm just going to find him. You're going to be ok mum. An ambulance will be here soon. Just don't go to sleep ok? Promise me you won't."

"I won't." Kirsten said in a weak pant.

"C'mon." Georgia said to Shaun.

"Are you crazy? Girl I aint going back in there! I'll get smoked!"

"You need to help me find my dad!" She screamed at him as he walked off.

"You wanna go back in there and become a black girl then go ahead. Whereas, I don't wanna die."

Georgia grunted then ran back in. She started to limp on the side she had been stabbed; above her left hip. As she jogged back in she covered the wound with her hand and looked at it. She was bleeding quite badly but she didn't care. All that mattered was getting her dad out. "Dad!" She screamed over and over as she paced through the foggy supermarket. "Dad…!" She said strained and coughing at the end.

She looked down a corridor and saw him lying on the floor unconscious. She skidded down beside him. She grabbed him by his shirt and started shaking him. "Dad, wake up! You gotta wake up dad! Come on!" Sandy had no response though. Georgia noticed he had a nasty gash on the side of his head.

Realising Sandy was not going to come to Georgia got up and started to drag him across the fire escape by the shoulders. Her lungs were becoming weaker from all the smoke and her leg was getting limper as she lost more blood. Half way there she had to stop and she fell down to the ground. She tried waking up her dad again. "Dad, please!" She screamed, tears forming. "Please! You've got to wake up!" However there was still no response. She checked his pulse and it was very weak. Barely there. "Shit!" Georgia looked out her side and saw a crate trolley. She wiped her eyes and grabbed it and carefully put her dad on it. She moved as fast as she could to get to the way out.

She heard childish screams as she got to the exit. "Help! Help us!" She heard from a little girl but she couldn't see her. Georgia saw Sandy as her priority. "I'll come back for you!" She yelled out. Then without a moment to lose she limped out the building pushing her dad. The paramedics had arrived and came and took Sandy off her. Kirsten was being lifted into an ambulance and she called out for Sandy when she saw him, panic in her voice. One of the paramedics took Georgia by the arm and started to take her over to the ambulance.

"No. I have to go back. There are little kids in there." She pulled away.

The paramedic tried to warn Georgia; telling her to wait until the fire engines got here but she ran back inside.

When she limped back in she could barely see from all the smoke. The fire was spreading quickly. "Where are you?" She yelled coughing. She followed the sounds of children's screams. As she meandered through the isles she stumbled back and forth into them; her side getting drained further by every step. She found the crèche. There were 5 little kids; two about 3 the other 3 between 4 and 5, and a baby, just about one year old. There was a plank holding the door shut. Georgia shoved it off and opened the door and the kids all clambered out. She took the baby girl out of a three year old girl's arms.

"Come on run!" She said. "Run!"

Ahead of Georgia, the 5 year olds screamed as they got to the exit. Something had caught fire and the wall caved in blocking their way out. "Damn!" She said. Some of the kids started to cry. Georgia looked around her. She saw an open window on the side wall and a ladder close-by. "Down there" she said. The baby started to cry loudly in Georgia's ear which kept her aware. A three year old boy started to have a coughing fit so Georgia took him by the hand and dragged him with her.

She put the ladder up against the wall. Luckily it was long enough to go up to the window. "Ok climb up." She said. "I'll hold it. You'll be fine. Just make sure the firemen can see you when you get to the window." So one by one the children and toddlers climbed up and one by one, when they reached the top, a fireman took hold of them and they went down a ladder on the other side.

Georgia started to climb up. She struggled. Her blood loss was getting severe. She got to the top and could barely see the man in front of her. She held out the baby in her arms. Once she felt him take hold of her, her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell off the ladder. Everything went black.

-----------

Straight in there with a new story, huh!

Please r&r! you guys were great last time! Keep it up please.

xoxo


	2. The Strong Medicine

**THE STRONG MEDICINE **

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Georgia groaned. She swirled her neck around before opening her eyes squintedly. A completely white room. "What?" Georgia said confused. She then looked around her and realised she was in the hospital. She tried to turn around. "Ugh!…Oww!" She must have dislocated her left shoulder when she fell. It was tightly strapped in a sling but it still hurt. There were no nurses around and she didn't want to wait around to find out if her mum and dad were ok. She slowly swung her legs around the edge of the bed. She slid off. "Oww!" She looked at her side where she had pulled the glass out. 13 stitches. "Cheesy peeps man." Georgia whined.

She slid on some slippers that were in the corner of the room and snuck out the door pulling her fluids with her. She walked down a short corridor marked 'Trauma'. Searching through the windows she finally caught sight of Kirsten.

"Hey."

"Oh thank god you're ok." Kirsten said from her bed relieved. Georgia waddled over and gave her a hug. Kirsten kissed her head and held her tightly. "_You are _ok?"

"Yes I'm fine. Just probably gotta wear this thing for a few weeks." She said gesturing to her cast. "And…I have stitches." She showed them off.

"What happened?" Kirsten asked concerned.

"Airborne glass blade." Kirsten's eyes grew wide. "Don't worry; its all Robin Hood, I'm Calvin Klein."

Kirsten laughed and gave her a very confused look. Georgia waved her hand in the air. "It's Cockney. Never mind." She said.

"How's your back?" Georgia asked eagerly.

"Uh…" Kirsten said looking down at her hands.

"Mum, what is it? What's wrong?" Georgia asked taking hold of her hands.

"I still can't move my legs and I might never be able to." Kirsten said looking up.

"You're paralysed?"

Kirsten nodded awkwardly. "From the waist down."

Georgia frowned and choked up. "Mum…gosh I…I don't know what to say…I'm sorry." She said softly before quickly embracing her mum in a tight hug. Kirsten closed her eyes relieved. All she needed was that hug. She gripped her back tightly. "Hey, listen, this doesn't change anything, Okay?" Kirsten told Georgia out of the hug. "You aren't gonna have to take care of me. I'll still be able to do most things myself. But if we paint a room you'll have to help me because it'll only get half done."

Georgia giggled and Kirsten grinned. At least she had some humour abut this. "And I'm going to go to physio."

"Well that's good, right? Some hope lies." Georgia said.

Kirsten changed the subject. "Have you heard anything about your dad?"

"No, haven't they told you anything?" Georgia asked and Kirsten shook her head. "I'll take care of it." Georgia said.

Georgia headed back to her room, picking up some jeans and a t-shirt she found on the way. She felt weird wearing them cos they weren't her clothes and probably off a dead person but they fitted and were clean. Georgia figured that if she went around asking for her dad in a hospital gown the nurses and doctors would just send her back to her room.

So she snuck out and headed to the reception desk. "Hi I'm looking for my dad, Sandy Cohen; he was in the attack in Publix." The lady searched through her files. Georgia thought it was pretty handy that her last name was still McRoberts; they wouldn't be able to trace her on the computer under Cohen. "Right Miss Cohen you're dad is in ward 7; second floor."

"Thank you."

Georgia finally found her dad but not in the condition that she wished. She walked into the private room and Sandy was completely unconscious. The door shut behind her. "Dad?" She said slowly walking over to him. "Dad?" She gulped. She grew out of her skin and ran towards him. "Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, DAD!" She said shaking him and raising her voice. He wouldn't wake up. It was like she was in the fire all over again. Georgia felt a rush of pain rush through her body. She assumed once he got to the hospital he would be ok. She grabbed onto the necklace he had given her which was still safely around her neck. Scared, she backed off.

She gulped then stared blankly at him. Tears started to form in her eyes. What would she do without her daddy? Pretty much all her life Georgia had dreamt of the perfect dad; 'perfect' doesn't even begin to cover Sandy.

Just as the water in her eyes were about to break their boundaries she felt soft hands land on her shoulders. She knew who it was right away. She turned around and buried her head into her Aunty Julie.

Julie held her tightly for a moment letting her cry. "Shhh it's ok. Sandy will be fine. Have you ever known your dad to lose a battle?" Georgia smiled out of the corner of her mouth at Julie. She shook her head. Julie tucked Georgia's tuggy hair behind her ears. "Where's your mum?"

"She's uh…"

"Oh god. She's alright isn't she!" Julie asked panicking.

"Yeah no she's…alive but she…can't walk."

Julie was shocked. "She's in a wheelchair?"

"She will be. The shelves landed on her back."

"Oh my god." Julie said quietly completely in shock. "Don't worry sweetie; I am going to totally take care of you both. The three of you." She corrected herself.

There was a knock at the door and middle-aged man in a long white coat walked in. "Ah, you must be Mr Cohen's daughter and…"

"Family friend." Julie said.

"Right. I'm Dr Philips."

"What's wrong with my dad? Why won't he wake up?" Georgia asked.

"Well we've done a cat scan on your father and it appears that prior to the explosion he was suffering from a brain haemorrhage."

"Wait, prior to the attack?" Julie said.

"Yes. The severe trauma to his head has caused major problems but he was definatly haemorrhaging before that."

"He had a sore head." Georgia said softly as she remembered.

"Yes, there was aspirin in his blood stream and blood thinners like that can be a cause of haemorrhaging."

"When will he wake up?" Georgia asked.

"It's hard to tell. We'll have to do more tests. Depending on the severity that the injuries and haemorrhage caused to his brain, well…he might not wake up at all."

Georgia froze and no one spoke for a minute.

"Thank you doctor." Julie said, and Dr Philips left.

Georgia glanced back at Sandy. "I don't know how I am going to tell mum," She said in a quiet voice.

"I can talk to her if you want." Julie said warmly.

Georgia shook her head. "Could you come in with me though?"

Julie smiled and put her hand on Georgia's shoulder. "Of course I will."

Julie and Georgia walked into Kirsten's room as some nurses made their way out. "Julie?" Kirsten said surprised.

"Hey Kiki." She said walking over to her. "The boys called me."

"Are they here?" Kirsten asked impatiently.

"No. They'll try to drive back as soon as they can though." Kirsten nodded.

"Have you seen your dad?" Kirsten asked smiling. Georgia fell silent. She couldn't speak. How could she tell her mum, who had the perfect marriage and loved her daddy so much, that he is close to dying? Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked down at the ground, biting her thumb.

Kirsten looked at her worriedly. Julie sat down on the bed. "Kiki…Sandy breathed in a lot of smoke, he had a massive blow to the head and he haemorrhaged."

Kirsten shook her head. "No, no, no."

Julie cupped her face to keep her head still. "He's not dead. He's not." Kirsten sighed and smiled a wee bit. "He is unconscious though and there isn't a way to tell if he'll wake up."

Kirsten frowned, looking into space. Julie delicately had placed her arm on Kirsten and used her other to rub her shoulder.

Life without Sandy? Those words didn't belong in the same sentence. Without Sandy, life had no meaning. They loved with a love that was more than love.

Kirsten snapped out of her daydream. She held out her arms for Georgia who came over, sat on the bed and hugged her. Kirsten was giving the hug, not receiving it. There is no drug to cure emotional pain, so it's lucky that hugs are the universal medicine. Georgia started to cry again while burying her head into her mum's shoulder. She didn't want to upset her mum but the thought of losing her dad was more powerful than the ability to hide her pain. Kirsten just silently held her, rubbed her back, kissed her forehead and comforted her baby. Julie rubbed Georgia's back too.

Sometimes it's better to put love into hugs than to put it into words.

Later the nurses had tracked down Georgia and took her back to her room to change her cast. Julie and Kirsten watched her leave. "Will she be ok?" Julie asked.

Kirsten frowned. "Mmm, I think so. She just needs some time."

Julie nodded and paused. "Sandy'll be fine." She said reassuringly.

"He better be." Kirsten said. "Cos god knows, girls need their dads."

------------------------------------

So how much do u h8 me so far? 

please R&R. Thanks for all the reviews on the pilot chapter! xoxoxo


	3. The Special Two

"Race you upstairs."

Georgia smirked then laughed. She sighed. "Mum…"

"Sorry."

It had hit Georgia and Kirsten that there were only two of them leaving the hospital and only two of them arriving home when they got in the taxi. For a moment the two looked around the empty house at all the things they hold dear with memories of their husband or father. It was going to be so uncomfortable without Sandy in the house.

But it was only for a while. That's what they told themselves.

Ding dong. Georgia opened the door and Kirsten manoeuvred her chair round in the centre of the living area.

"Hi Aunt Julie." Georgia said. Julie kissed her head.

"Hey Georgia, Kirsten." She said breezily. She walked over to Kirsten. "I got you your new mobile." She handed Kirsten the phone box. "It flips, it's silver and it's just what you ordered."

Kirsten smiled. "Thanks Julie."

Julie then dropped a parking ticket on Kirsten's lap. Kirsten looked up at Julie.

"Why are you giving this to me?"

"I'm not paying for it." Julie said.

"Why should I? I wasn't the one who parked illegally." Kirsten said back.

"Well I only got it cos I was doing a favour for you."

"Alright let me ask you this; if I asked you to pass me a knife and you tossed it at me resulting in major stab wounds and injury, would it be my fault cos you wouldn't have needed to throw it if I hadn't asked you?" Kirsten asked calmly but purposely.

Julie held up her head. "Had I not been running an errand for you I wouldn't have been put in the position where I might cause a parking offence."

Kirsten sighed smiling, not losing her cool with her friend. "You are unbelievable."

Julie grinned "Oh, thank you Kirsten." she said, sincerely.

Julie sighed. "Uh so do you need any help with anything or…?"

"No, Julie we're fine. Thanks." Kirsten said.

"Ok, well then I guess I'll see you later!" She kissed Kirsten's cheek which felt weird having to bend down all the time. And for Kirsten, as well, having to reach up all the time. It was weird for all of them. "Bye Kiki, GG!" Julie shut the door behind her.

Georgia and Kirsten both cringed. "I don't like our nicknames anymore." Georgia said.

"I never liked my nickname." Kirsten said, they both grinned.

"So uh" Georgia felt awkward all of a sudden which had hardly ever happened before between her and Kirsten. "You wanna get popcorn, watch the Valley, you know the third season has been really good so far and we missed it last night."

Kirsten bit her lip. "You know what sweetie, I'm gonna have a shower first, kay?"

Georgia nodded. "Sure."

Kirsten twirled in her wheelchair then paused, as did Georgia, when she saw her mum stop, as she was reaching over the couch to get the remote. "What?" She asked.

"Uh…" Kirsten hesitated deeply thinking and staring into space. "I…can't have a shower…and I don't…"

"I'll help you in the bath." Georgia said.

Kirsten frowned. "No, that's too weird."

"It's fine." Georgia cut her off. "Go put your cozy on."

Kirsten shook her head again. "No, you probably couldn't even lift me."

"Cos you're such a fat ride mum." Georgia said sarcastically. Georgia giggled. "It's fine! I swear, go."

Kirsten sighed and did as she was told.

Georgia drew Kirsten a bath while she got changed. Georgia came out of her mum and dad's bathroom. "Nice bikini." Georgia said.

"Thanks." Kirsten blushed in her black Marc Jacobs bikini she had bought in the summer. It was for Sandy really.

"Ok, let's do this." Georgia wheeled Kirsten into her bathroom and managed to scoop her up in her arms and put her in the bath. She straightened her back and stretched her neck afterwards.

"Warm enough?" Georgia asked.

"Perfect. I love the bubbles."

"You can't have a bath without bubbles." Georgia smiled. She sat down on the ground beside the bath. "So are we going to see dad tomorrow?" Georgia asked.

"Yeah of course we are." Kirsten said. "And the day after that and the day after that…" Kirsten trailed off.

Georgia stroked her fingers through the warm water. "You think it'll take days?"

"I don't know sweetie." Kirsten said, looking down at her little girl. "It's already weird so I hope not." She smirked and frowned.

"Yeah it doesn't feel right without dad here. And we've only been home 30 minutes."

Georgia silenced and looked to the tiles on the floor. "Your dad's tough." Kirsten said softly. "I'm the person who is closest to him and knows him best of all, and I know that he is way too stubborn, to let anything get in the way of seeing his princess again." Georgia half smiled.

"And as his princess, I know that he wouldn't let anything in the world stop him from seeing his honey again." Kirsten smiled.

After the bath, the mother and daughter huddled under one duvet together on the couch watching re-runs of the Valley. It took their mind off the missing members of the family albeit still felt weird not having them walk through at times. But they were both laughing, and throwing popcorn at each other and enjoying the time they were spending together.

Kirsten realised that the situation really was not that bad, no matter how bad it might have felt, because nothing was bad when she was with her daughter.

"This isn't so bad is it?" Georgia asked.

Kirsten smiled. "Nothings bad when I'm with you, sweetie."


	4. The Scientist

"I can't- I can't do it anymore; I tried to keep quiet but I can't keep my mouth shut anymore. I can't I just can't do it. So let's take a moment and look deep inside and say what needs to be said."

"Ok, Seth, ok." Ryan said to Seth as they drove through the night.

"What if my dad doesn't wake up? That would make me the leading Cohen man, and I don't think I'm ready to be a man. And what about college? Would we just leave and come home or would we commute? Perhaps get an express pass cos driving is just so slow these days. And what about Georgia? And my mum? How are they gonna deal? Will my mum start dating again? Cos I don't think that's right. My mum is being so selfish I can't believe she's going to go out with someone else again! Oh my god I can't believe my mum is re-marrying another guy, this is just horrible!"

"Some people stop for air, Seth!" Ryan yelled cutting him off. "Ok, whoa just whoa!"

"I have to look at the big picture Ryan." Seth moaned shaking his head.

"What picture? Just stay in the present for 5 minutes ok." Ryan sighed.

----------------------------------------------------

Kirsten squinted as the sun finally shone through the gap in her curtains as morning rose. At some dreadful hour she had given up trying to fall asleep without Sandy next to her. She lay for hours in the night waiting for the morning to come. She stared at Sandy's empty side of the bed. She stared at the photos on her nightstand; their wedding night photo and a candid of Sandy with his arms around her, laughing together at the beach, taken by their daughter. Kirsten smiled. Georgia. The reason she had to get up out of bed, open the curtains and be alive.

She got dressed and wheeled herself into the kitchen only to see Georgia sitting out on the patio watching the sun rising.

"Hey sweetie." She said. "Beautiful sunrise."

Georgia half smiled. "Yeah it is, except…I'd rather I was seeing it with dad, you, know, surfing."

Kirsten wheeled herself up beside Georgia and stroked her hand over her arm. "We'll go see him soon. Just when you're ready. You don't know what might have taken a spin over night."

"Ryan!" Georgia screamed as she saw him walk into the back garden. She jumped out of her seat and ran to him, hooking her free arm around his neck as she jumped into him. Ryan smiled and held onto her tightly, her legs dangling below him. "Hey,

you ok?" Ryan asked.

Georgia slid down him but still held onto his t-shirt. "Definatly been better." Georgia said.

Ryan muffled up her hair a bit and kissed her forehead. "I'm glad you're ok. Missed you."

"You have no idea." Georgia smirked.

Ryan swerved over to Kirsten bending down and giving her a tight hug. "Hey Kirsten…" He said softly.

"Hey Ryan. You alright?" She asked which Ryan thought was weird that she was asking him.

"Uh…I don't know."

Georgia ran up to Seth, who crouched down to the ground, letting her hug him as tightly as possibly. "Hey GG." He said. "How are you?"

Georgia looked at Seth babyishly. "Miss dad." Seth nodded. He went over to his mum.

"Hey mum." He hugged her.

She hugged him back. "Hey sweetie."

"How are you doing? You ok?"

Kirsten nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Really?"

"Yup. You want something to eat? You must be hungry." She smiled motherly and went into the kitchen. Ryan and Seth frowned at each other.

"Was that weird?" Seth asked.

"We're going to the hospital soon." Kirsten said from the kitchen. "You boys should eat something first." Seth frowned again, concerned.

------

At the hospital…Seth, Ryan and Georgia walked into Sandy's private room where he slept while Kirsten talked to his doctors…….

The three stood in a line at the end of his bed.

"He looks…asleep." Seth said quietly.

"He's still dad." Georgia said.

"But he's just lying there. It's weird that we can't just wake him up." Seth said.

"Maybe we can." Ryan said. "Talk to him, play music, sit with him for a while." Ryan suggested.

They all sat with Sandy by themselves for a while. When Kirsten went in the boys watched her from the window while Georgia sat against the wall. "What do you think she's saying?" Seth asked. Ryan shrugged.

"I wish I could lip read." Seth groaned. He turned to Georgia. "She hasn't cried?"

"Not that I've seen." Georgia said exhausted.

"And that doesn't worry you?" Seth asked.

"Yes, Seth, it does but just because she hasn't cried in front of us doesn't mean she hasn't cried at all."

"I just thought that with everything that happened she would have. The explosion, dad and us leaving. That had to pretty hard on her." Seth said. Always thinking a little about himself.

Kirsten linked her fingers with Sandy's. She lifted her arm and rested her cheek against the back of his hand. She ran her fingers through his hair watching him lovingly as he slept. "Oh honey…" Kirsten sighed. "This is so hard. Being in this chair and having to rely on everyone around me, especially Georgia. She's our daughter, I'm the mum, it's meant to be the other way around; I'm meant to take care of her. And so are you." She paused, waiting for any kind of reaction. But nothing. "She starts at Harbour in two days, I know she'd want to you drop her off." Kirsten said smiling at him slightly. Kirsten gave up her smile and optimism. "Goddamn it Sandy. I love you so much just wake up, please. I can't get through this without you." She collapsed forward onto his chest but she didn't cry. She knew her kids were watching.

-------------------------------

Seth walked into the poolhouse. "Hey." Ryan said turning around. "You alright?"

Seth mumbled then spoke. "Yeah but not in the crazy happy way my mum is though." Seth said bitterly.

"Sandy isn't dead yet, she's got that in mind." Ryan reminded him.

"Yes but there is such a thing as being too optimistic, Ryan! And my mum usually worries too much and now, she's not worried at all." Seth snapped.

"What, would you rather she had a breakdown!"

"Well at least it would show that she cares!"

"She does care! She's in shock!"

"Well she's got a funny way of showing it!"

"She just doesn't want to believe he might be dying!

"She could at least cry about it!"

"I don't know why she isn't." Ryan snapped back.

"Think about the consequences! What if she starts drinking again?" Seth yelled.

"It doesn't have to be this way!" Ryan said back to Seth as loud as him.

"We can't just turn around and walk away."

"There's gotta be more to it than what we see!"

"Right!" Seth said jerking his head. He frowned. "What are we fighting for?" Seth asked panting quietly.

Ryan sighed, panted then looked up at Seth. "I don't know…"

Seth slumped on the bed. "We both want to help mum, right?"

Ryan sat down. "Yes but not now, she's in bed. We'll talk about what we'll do in the morning. We'll get nowhere tonight. Sleep, I promise it'll all seem better,  
somehow in time." Ryan said.

---------------------------------------------------

In the morning Seth was moping around while Ryan was out getting a few groceries. He slumped himself on the couch mindlessly watching Fox 13 News but he wasn't really paying attention.

Georgia sat down on the couch close to a distant Seth. "What's up?" She asked.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Seth it's ok to be sad."

"Mum isn't sad." He said confused.

"Yes she is." Georgia enforced. "She just wants to protect you."

"From what exactly?" Seth asked bitterly.

Georgia paused. "Being sad."

Seth went outside to find Kirsten.

"Hi sweetie what's-" Kirsten got cut off. Seth hugged her tightly and Kirsten was taken back. "It's ok mum." He said.

Kirsten didn't cry. She didn't well up in tears. She just hugged her baby back tightly; comforted and little less protective. God, she loved her little boy.

-----------------------------------------------

This doesn't feel like my best work. My mind keeps goin blank at the moment. However, thank you all for the reviews! I appreciate it tonnes and the more that review the quicker I will update!

Kiki xoxo


	5. The Numero Cinco

**The Numero Cinco **

It was 9 o'clock on Wednesday morning. The boys had left late the night before; Kirsten was not allowing them to waste another minute of their college time. However, they promised to visit every chance they had. Georgia was just sitting down to Regis and Kelly with a glass of Tropicana and creamed bagel when the doorbell rang. She groaned.

She opened the door and saw Aunt Julie standing in front of her with a pitiful look. "Hey…" She said.

"Hi." Georgia said bluntly half-smiling. "Want to watch Regis and K? Fall Out Boy are on."

"Who?" Julie frowned. Georgia signalled for her to come in and she sat back down on the couch in front of the TV. "Where's your mom?"

"In her room. She's not up yet." Georgia said.

"Yeah. How is she doing? She ok?" Julie asked sitting down beside Georgia.

Georgia sighed. "I guess…I'm gonna talk to her tonight. Or later. When the moment's right."

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Julie asked.

"Up to you. I don't kn-" The doorbell rang again and Georgia stopped talking. "Could you get that please?" She asked Julie. Julie opened the door and there was a hard-looking police officer standing in front of her.

"Hello officer." The stern man remained silent. "May we – help you?" Georgia turned down the TV. The officer stepped into the Cohen's house without invitation.

"I'm Detective Morris, I'm leading the investigation with the explosion that happened at the Publix in the city. I need to get statements from everyone. Are you Mrs Cohen?"

"No I'm Mrs Cooper-Nicholl. That's Georgia though, Kirsten's daughter."

The officer stepped forward. "Can I speak to you and your mother?"

"As a matter of fact, not at the moment. She's not out of bed yet."

"Well maybe you could wake her up? I've got loads of people to see."

"Well maybe you could come back later. I'm only 14, you can't interview me without a parent present and my mum is not up yet."

"Listen kid, I'm a busy man ok and I don't have time for you to-"

Georgia stood up quickly from the couch. "She's asleep, ok? Come back in a few hours and she'll talk to you!" She screamed at the officer. "Now get the hell out of my house!" The officer slammed the door behind him and Georgia slowly sat back on the couch.

"What a jerk." Julie said.  
"Aunty Julie…"  
"I mean, if it was anybody else I would just say 'get a life, get laid already!'"  
"Aunty Julie…"  
"But _nooooo_, not him cos he's the police. He's the sheriff, the 'man'." She huffed. "And clearly too much cos did you see the size of the head on that nose?"

"Aunt Julie, ambulance?"  
Julie looked in horror at the spreading stain of blood on Georgia's shirt. "Oh my god."

---------

"And now, it's time for the 11 o'clock news…"

"_Five days after the raid in a Publix store in Orange County and there are still no leads into the motive for the attack. Although there is only one suspect, it is clear that John Grohl – the suicide bomber- did have plenty of help planning the act of violence. Police are looking for this man, Michael Hawk, last seen on Saturday afternoon in the Newport Bay at 3:45pm – two hours after the bombing. _

_A total of 4 children and 29 innocent grocery shoppers died during the explosion or at the hospital. 3 people are still unidentified."_

---------------------------

"And that's the important thing." Georgia said.  
"But you couldn't have done it figuratively? You know, in with a stern word? You had to do it in the actual I'm-standing-up-now-and-popping-five-stitches way?" Kirsten asked jokingly when Julie brought Georgia home.

"You know, I'm gonna go change into some baggy jeans. I'm not really feeling 'fitted' right now." Georgia said standing up crookedly.  
"That's fair your guts opened up." Julie said. Georgia laughed. She bent over Kirsten to give her a hug even though it hurt her side. "Love you mum." She said randomly.

Kirsten smiled. "Love you too, sweetie."

"Do you want anything?" Georgia asked Kirsten before going upstairs to her room when Kirsten said no.

Julie smiled. "She's a good kid."

Kirsten's smile grew and nodded her head. "Yes she is."

"She's worried about you, you know? She says you don't talk about Sandy; you haven't cried. That makes me worry."

"Well thanks for your consideration Julie but I don't need taken of. I'm the mom; I take care of my kids."

"Kirsten, Sandy's lying in the hospital so close to dead the nurses are gonna put a tag on his toe and you don't appear to be upset at all! Of all the married people I know, you two are the most in love I've seen my whole life and I would have thought that would mean something in a situation like this."

"You don't think I'm upset? You don't think it's killing me not being able to kiss my husband, to hug him and tell him how glad I am he's ok and that I love him more than anything? Of course I'm upset! But I don't want my kids to be upset. I can't let them know I have doubts. Especially Georgia. If Sandy…" She took a breath. "If Sandy didn't wake up, well it would destroy her."

"And you." Julie added.

Kirsten shook her head. "Of course me."

Georgia jumped down the last step. "Ow! Damn it!"

"Are you ok? Don't jump down the stairs like that." Kirsten said motherly.

"I'm hungry."

"That's right, we need to go shopping." Kirsten said then there was a pause. "Julie will you drop us off?"

Julie and Georgia were surprised Kirsten was so quickly wanting to go out again. "Are you sure?" Julie asked but then carried on. "Of course I will but I can't stay; I've got to do a few messages. I'll only be an hour so I can pick you up."

"Could you take us to the hospital afterwards?" Julie nodded. "Sure."

Kirsten smiled. "Great. I'll get my purse."

-------------------

Georgia stood outside the Publix on Dover Drive. She looked up at its high aluminium slates and concrete walls. She took one deep breath and sighed.

Kirsten whizzed by her in her wheelchair. "What are you waiting for?" She smiled. "Last one there is a monkey's bum." She giggled riding off.

Georgia grinned and whined. "I don't wanna be a monkey's bum!"

Georgia caught up with her mum when they got into the door and they stopped for a moment, looking around them.

"You don't have to do this you know." Kirsten said.

"I know but I want to do this now." She shrugged. "No point in hiding away."

Kirsten smiled. "Good. Well I'm thirsty, I'll just get a Diet Coke then we can start kay?"

"You were in the other Publix when the bomb went off, huh?" Georgia turned to her left to see a Publix employee, in a green tunic, speaking to her. She frowned. "Uh how did you?-"

"You're the 5th person today." She said.

Georgia walked closer to the young lady who was unpacking boxes and packaging. "The lucky number 5."

"My sister was shopping at the time. She and her husband never got out and now her kids have been left with me."

"Gosh I'm so sorry." Georgia said she realised how lucky she was to have her mum, at least, safe and sound and Sandy close to safe. "But her children are staying with you, which must feel like there is still a little bit of your sister in your life."

The lady smiled. "It does. And I have to thank the girl who got them both out of the shop. You see they we re stuck in the crèche and this girl risked her own life and went back into the burning building. Managed to save all the kids that were in the crèche. She was only 14 you know. I read about her in the newspaper." She clicked her fingers. "Uh, uh, Georgina or…Georgia something"

"McRoberts?" Georgia asked.

The lady shook her head and Georgia rolled her eyes. "Cohen?"

The lady snapped her fingers at Georgia smiling. "That's it! You know her?"

"Yeah, she's me."

"Really? You have no idea how much I owe you. You saved my nieces' lives!"

Georgia held up her hands. "No, its ok, you don't have to say that. I'm glad I did it. Thanks though."

"You know there was a whole article on your family in the paper."

"Yeah?" Georgia asked impressed.

"Yeah, your mom is like the princess of Newport! " Georgia laughed, this twenty-something sounded like an obsessed fan. "How is she by the way? I read she's paralysed. And your dad's on life support? That can't be easy."

"My dad is not on a ventilator and my mum is only in a wheelchair. Hopefully only for a while and we're getting by ok."

She smiled. "Well good. Good for you."

"Grace! Get back to work!" The lady's boss yelled from across the store.

"Sorry. I better get back to work. Food has to be bought and nannies have to be paid."

"Well…I could baby-sit for you sometime." Georgia said. "Free. I'd be happy to do it and I think my mum would enjoy it." Georgia smiled.

"Really? For free?"

"Sure." Georgia said with a nod. Then she thought for a moment. Uh…which kids are your sisters?" Hoping she wouldn't get stuck with little monsters.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There isn't a Publix on Dover Drive. There probably isn't even a Publix in California since they're only in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina which I did not realise when I first started writing this. Lol. However, I hope you are still enjoying this. I know it's not as good as the original. I have little ideas but can't seem to develop them into big ones. I'll try to update the next chapter sooner than this.

Thank you so much for all the reviews to those that have. I appreciate it so much. Please continue. I am willing to use your ideas. I decided to take _princesssparkle88_'s advice and use American context when appropriate for each character. IE; Julie referred to Kirsten as 'Mom' but Georgia says 'Mum'.


	6. The Wisdom to Know The Difference

**The Wisdom to Know the Difference**

"I'm going to school. I'm going to school!" Georgia sang.

Kirsten laughed. "Alright, alright. Just don't be popping any more stitches before we get to Harbour."

Georgia grinned. "I won't."

"Now finish your bagel, the driver will be here soon to pick us up." Kirsten spun herself around in her wheelchair. "I'm spinning around…" She hummed to herself.

**20 minutes later…….**

"Have you got everything? Phone? Money? Brain?"

Georgia laughed. "Yes, I do."

"Do you want me to come in with you? Take you the Dean?"

"I'm fine mum. I have been to high school before you know?" Georgia asked smiling.

"I know I'm sorry. I'm just being the overprotective mom."

Georgia smiled sweetly. "I love you mum." She kissed her cheek as she climbed out the car.

"See you after school sweetie! Love you!" The door shut and Kirsten sighed.

"Back home ma'am?" The driver called back. Home didn't sound too appealing right now. No boys, no Georgia, no Sandy. She couldn't even go stir crazy because she couldn't properly reach the counters. She needed to go somewhere where she could relax for a while; clear her mind and not have to think about the last 6 days.

"No Charlie. I'll redirect you. Just take a left here."

"Right you are Mrs Cohen."

----

Georgia walked down the crowded corridors of Harbour, carrying her school bag on her strong shoulder and a folder and some books in her good arm. She tried to find her way to Dr Kim's office but it wasn't easy to see when there were a hundred of much taller people pushing past her, trying to get to class.

Bang! Crash!

"Ow!" Georgia flinched.

"Sorry." "Sorry." Georgia and her crash-buddy said together. They both bent down to get the books and file she dropped and bumped foreheads. "Oh sorry." They said joint again. They looked at each other and laughed. "I'll get these for you," The boy said. He was 15, fair, cute and carrying a skateboard on his back. All that Georgia needed to know. "Here. I'm Braden."

Georgia smiled. "Thanks. I'm Georgia and sorry."

Braden smiled. "I shoulda been looking. First day huh?"

Georgia smirked. "Is it that obvious?"

"I know my way to Dr Kim's office pretty well. C'mon." Georgia smiled as she walked down the corridor with him. She was going in the right direction at least.

Braden tilted his head and looked at Georgia as they walked. Georgia smiled at him awkwardly. "Sorry I'm staring." Georgia nodded. "It's just…I think I recognise you."

"I get that a lot." Georgia breathed. "You board often?"

"Yeah I love it. Actually I'm going to the skate park after school with some friends, you can come if you want? Watch I mean. Meet some people."

Georgia smiled. "Uh maybe."

"Do you skateboard when your arm isn't in a sling?"

Georgia giggled. "Not really…I rollerblade."

"Awesome. Good stuff. Well maybe when your arm is better you can show me a few things about blading."

"And tonight you can show me a few things about skating." They smiled.

"Well this is our stop. She's not that scary don't worry. Your just lucky Dean Hess isn't back until tomorrow."

"Yeah, I've heard he's a right munter."

Braden laughed a little confused. "If that's what you say then that's what he is."

"So maybe I'll see you at lunch?" Georgia asked hopefully.

"If you find the canteen." Braden said smiling back.

----

"Kirsten?" Julie turned around surprised to see her best friend wheel herself into her own office. "You're…here…?"

"I can't do anything in my house Julie! Not by myself. I have to come back to work."

Julie sighed. "Actually I'm glad. I have a presentation in two hours and I have no idea what I'm gonna say."

"Well catch me up. I'll help you."

-------

In the queue for lunch Georgia looked at all the people around her and sighed. She was trying to put names to faces of the people she was just in classes with. She kept thinking Kellie, Steph or another friend from Scotland would come up behind her, tap her shoulder and give her a big hug. But no such luck. School sure felt strange without having them there.

Just then she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around. "Elle!" She shrieked.

"Hey Georgia!" She hugged her.

"I didn't think you got back from Italy until next week?"

"My mum didn't want Erin to miss her first week of school." Elle squeezed in the line beside Georgia. "How was Almafi's Coast?"

"So pretty! We had so much fun but never mind that how are you? Are you ok? Your mum and dad? I heard about the explosion."

"Well I dislocated my shoulder." Georgia said gesturing to her sling. "And I got stabbed by the pizza fridge." Georgia said laughing and showing Elle her stitches.

"And your mum and dad?"

"Not so good." Georgia shrugged. "I'll tell you tonight."

"Soda. I haven't got any soda." Elle said skipping back to the fridges.

Georgia paid the lunch lady and turned around but accidentally knocked her tray against someone.

She gasped. "Oh my god, I'm sorry!" She looked up and smiled when she saw who it was. "Why is it that we're always bumping into each other?"

Braden smiled. "That's ok." He took the napkins off Georgia's tray and wiped his shirt. "It's just water, right?"

"Yeah. Wanna sit with me?"

Braden nodded and walked with her to a table. "So you found the canteen." Braden smiled.

"And you found me."

"Hey Braden." Elle said sitting down beside him.

"Georgia this is-"

"Elle. Yeah I'm familiar with her." She said giggling and Elle laughed back. Another guy came and sat down beside them. He was a jock looking kind of guy but he also seemed nice enough. "And this is Ash."

"So yeah we're going to the skate park after school. Wanna come?" Braden asked.

"Do you all skateboard?" Georgia asked.

"Nah that's mostly Braden. I do a little and Ash is a swimmer." Elle said.

"I could probably go…"Georgia said.

"Yeah, I mean wouldn't you rather come to school tomorrow knowing a few people?" Braden asked.

Georgia smiled. "Yeah, ok, I'll just call my mum."

Georgia went outside into the quiet and called Kirsten's mobile. "Georgia, sweetie, is everything ok?" Kirsten asked concerned.

"Everything's fine. I was just wondering if-"

"I was just about to call you actually. I'm at work and Julie's going to drop me off at physio so we can come pick you up after school. Saves you getting the bus."

Georgia cringed. "Oh right…your first physio is tonight…"

"Why? Is something wrong?" Kirsten asked.

"Ah…it's just…" Georgia looked through the window at Ash, Elle and Braden. Braden looked back at her and gave her a friendly smile. "It's just I've got a lot of homework to catch up on." Georgia said lying, which she hated doing.

"First day and behind already huh?" Kirsten asked laughing a little. "Well, ok, it's not a problem. I'll see you back home tonight. I'll be done around 5 ok?"

"Ok mum. Thanks. See you later." Georgia hung up took a deep sigh. She looked at Braden who gave her a smile and thumbs up. She smiled and gave him thumbs up back.

-----

Bang! Braden slammed his hand on the locker beside Georgia's where she was putting away some books. She closed her locker door.

"I figured out where I know you from." Braden said. "You're Georgia Cohen, right? Your family was in that Publix last week. I saw it in the paper."

"It's McRoberts. My last name's McRoberts and well done genius, you're right; I was in the Publix when the bomb went off." Georgia said walking down the corridor.

"Wait you're last name is McRoberts? Did your mum remarry?"

"No but that's a long story." Georgia said with a laugh. "Why don't you ask Elle? She'll explain it to you."

"Oh come on. Can't be_ that_ complicated. Tell me in 15 words."

"Babies switched in hospital mix up. Lived with another mother for 14 years in Scotland." Georgia grinned and laughed. "Hey I could tell you in 15 words."

"But you never changed your name to Cohen?" Braden asked.

"No. I never really thought about doing that." She shrugged. "Maybe one day."

Ash ran up to them all of a sudden. His hair damp from swimming. "Hey. You guys still heading to the park?"

"Yup we are." Georgia said.

"Great." Ash said. "So when do you get your sling off Georgia?"

"Tomorrow actually." She said with a smile.

"Great, you can come swimming with me. Do you swim?" He asked hopefully.

"A bit. I surf a lot."

"Awesome! That's cool." Ash replied excited.

------

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Julie asked Kirsten in her room waiting to see her physiotherapist.

Kirsten smiled sheepishly. "I'm a big girl. I'm sure I'll cope alright and get home safely by myself."

Julie smiled. "OK, hunny." She kissed her friend's cheek. "Have fun." She was just leaving when a tall handsome doctor walked in. "Afternoon Mrs Cohen. I'm Dr Paul and I'll be taking your therapy sessions with you over the next few months."

Julie turned to Kirsten behind him and mouthed. "Tall! Hot! Have fun!" Kirsten smiled and rolled her eyes. "Nice to meet you Dr Paul." Julie said. "By Kirsten."

"So how have you been? Any pain at all? In your back?"

"None at all." Kirsten said with a grin.

"How about your legs? Any feeling come back yet?" He asked bending and stretching her legs.

"Uh no. Not really…well, none really." Dr Paul made a concerned face which worried Kirsten. "That's bad isn't it?"

"The first two weeks are vital. If there's no feeling in the muscle during that time it usually means a much slower recovery process-"

"Or no recovery at all, right?" Kirsten asked.

Dr Paul nodded. "But you've still got over a week left. This is your first session. We can worry about those situations later on." Kirsten nodded still caught up in the horrendous thought that she'd never be able to walk again. "Now I'm just going to do a few reflex tests ok?"

"Sure." Kirsten said.

"Are you ticklish?" He asked. Kirsten frowned "Uh…" Dr Paul took the end of his ruler and meandered it down the sole of her feet. In a normal person, they would have reacted immediately; kicking their leg or jerking their foot at least. But Kirsten had no reactions. She couldn't even feel the ruler on her the base of her foot. "Can you feel that?"

Kirsten shook her head. This concerned Dr Paul; no one can fake a reflex. "OK." He said, staying calm on the outside. He took his little hammer and banged Kirsten's knee. Again, in a normal person, they're leg would have bounced up but, again, nothing happened to Kirsten. "Mmm…" Dr Paul mumbled.

"I was afraid you'd 'Mmm'." Kirsten said.

"Look, Mrs Cohen, if you want me to be honest, I am concerned that you don't have reflexes in your legs. However, I have a leaflet with exercises you should try. They are core stability exercises that should improve the muscular corset around your back. Three times daily is enough and, hopefully, should they work, we'll get you sitting and standing by yourself again." He said with a smile.

"Hopefully." Kirsten said with a fake smile she pushed through her fear and anger.

-------

Georgia sat on top of a half pipe watching Braden, Ash and Elle muck about on their skateboards. Braden was the best out of the three. Clearly Ash should stick to swimming and Elle was fair enough. Georgia laughed and cheered when Braden was doing tricks; impressing her.

"Show off!" Elle screamed at him. Georgia laughed.

"What time is it?" Georgia asked.

"5:15." Elle said.

"What? No! Hell no!" Georgia jumped up. "My mum is gonna be home by now. Crap. I gotta go guys."

She jumped down off the half pipe and picked up her school bag about to run off when Braden jumped in front of her. "Hey, I had fun tonight."

"Yeah, me too." Georgia said smiling.

"Maybe, another time, we could bump into each other, on purpose?" Braden asked.

"I'd like that." Georgia answered.

----

Georgia went round the back hoping to be able to sneak into the house but Kirsten was sitting out on the back patio reading.

"And where have you been?" Kirsten asked, lifting her head out of the newspaper.

Georgia sighed. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm getting some air. Where have you been?"

"I decided to go to the library; you know, easier to stay focused." Georgia tried to say casually.

"Don't lie to me Georgia." Kirsten said sternly. "Where did you go after school today?"

Georgia hesitated. "I went…to…a skate park with some friends."

"You made friends?" Kirsten asked gladly. Georgia nodded. "Yeah uh Braden and Ash and Elle's back too."

Kirsten smiled. "That's good. I'm happy for you. And I wouldn't have minded that you went to the skate park with them instead of the hospital _if_ you had asked me."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Why did you lie to me Georgia?" Kirsten asked being serious again.

"I don't know. I think…I knew I should have been with you because I kind of promised I would be there."

Kirsten raised her eyebrow. "Well since you broke a promise and lied to me, twice, I'll have to punish you. Go to your room and do your homework for now. I'll think of something later. And always call me before you go anywhere, kay?"

"Yeah, sorry." Georgia said. "So how was therapy?" She asked trying to avoid going to her room.

Kirsten sighed. "Do you want the truth or shall I tell you what you want to hear?"

"Truth please."

"Horrible." Kirsten said with a sarcastic smirk. "It was a struggle; really hard. But it's not just therapy; it's the little things that seem to have been getting to me. But I'm doing what I can to not to be getting down."

Georgia sat down. "You know, I was thinking we should get one of those escalating chair lifts so you can get upstairs."

"I don't think so." Kirsten said sternly.

"Even if it's not permanent, it's probably worth having."

"No I don't want to get one. I'm perfectly fine without one." Kirsten enforced sharply. She was refusing to admit she was some kind of 'handicap' or 'disabled' person.

"You haven't been upstairs since we've got home!"

"We-are-not-getting a stair chair lift! End of conversation."

"But mum-!"

"Georgia enough! Go to your room, you're grounded."

"That's not fair!" Georgia yelled.

"Don't answer me back!" Kirsten yelled angrily. "Now go to your room."

Georgia breathed. "Fine." She sulked. "Whatever to get away from you."

Kirsten sighed deeply rubbing her face in her hands. "Oh Sandy…grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

-----------

"…and now I feel really bad because she is obviously making a great effort but still hardly getting anywhere. And I never saw my dad at all today. My mum probably went after physio. Ugh this is all so _messed up_!" Georgia cried falling back onto the bed holding the phone in her hand.

"Look hunny, you're mum is in a wheelchair, her whole life has been turned upside down, and she's going to get really frustrated a lot. Especially since now you say the therapy isn't going well." Steph said down the phone. It was after her midnight but she had Founder's Day the next day so she didn't have to worry about getting up for school early. "She probably didn't mean to get mad at you."

"No, I know that and you're right; her life has turned completely upside down but she seems to be ok."

"Then…what's the problem?" Steph asked.

"That she's ok. That losing her legs or not having dad around hasn't killed her. That she can deal with it all. In her whole life no one ever mattered to mum…not like dad did. And now there's the chance that he'll go…forever. I just feel like she's being disloyal to him in some way."

"No. Georgia, hunny, your mum is an amazing mum who is still fighting and trying to look after her and her husband's family. And that's not being disloyal to him, that's honouring him."

"You know what you're right Stephy." Georgia said peering through her curtain looking down at Kirsten. "I'm going to go and apologise."

Georgia got to the kitchen and took a deep breath as she walked outside.

"Hey mum…"

"Oh Georgia, sweetie, I'm sorry about-"

Georgia shook her head insistently. "No it's fine."

"No I think you're right. We should probably get one of those stair lift things. It makes sense; if you have a fit at least I know I can get to you."

Georgia hadn't thought about her fits. "Oh right, yeah. I'm sorry too."

Kirsten smiled. "That's ok."

"Uh…do you wanna hear the poem I had to write for English?"

"Yeah, ok. I would like that." Kirsten said.

Georgia read off the piece of paper she pulled out of the back pocket of her jeans and held in front of her.

"A light, the brightest light in my life, went out of sight

Fell down a hole, went dark as coal,

and I cried, till my eyes went dry.

In dark air, in despair, I made a promise, I made a swear,

to that light, that I'd persevere, that I would hold it dear.

I said goodbye, then opened my eyes.

I saw a glow, that lifted me from my low.

I had new fight, and there were two new lights, and boy do they shine bright."

Kirsten grinned widely when Georgia had finished. "You are officially UN-grounded." She held out her arms and Georgia went over to her mum, embraced her hug and sat down beside her on the outdoor couch in front of the lit fireplace.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok hope you guys liked that!

I do not own the OC or any of the characters.

Soon…Soon! I will reveal what is happening with Sandy. But…for now you'll just have to deal with not knowing. I'm putting yourselves in Kirsten and Georgia's places.

And now…you see that wee button to your bottom left…please click it and review. You know you wanna ;) Thanks for all the reviews from the last chapter!


	7. The Ready, Unsteady

_For Steph…my best friend and my inspiration. Honey, I love you and couldn't be more proud of you. I can't tell you that enough… _

The Ready, Unsteady

"Mum I'm home!" Georgia yelled as she came in the front door from school. "School was great!" She carried on yelling, thinking Kirsten would be upstairs as she walked into the kitchen. The chair lift was getting installed that morning. "Braden can get me tickets to see Fall Out Boy." She smiled as she dumped her bags against the fridge on the floor. "And ,oh, the funniest thing happened at lunch!" she called as she slid off her shoes and hung her jacket over the back of the couch.

She walked up into the hallway. "Mum! Where are you?" She shouted, heading upstairs.

"In my bedroom." A small voice echoed from across the house. Georgia jumped down the stairs and skipped into Kirsten and Sandy's bedroom.

Georgia swung into the room. "Hey!" Kirsten smiled and said 'hi' shifting about. "You alright?" Georgia asked.

"No. I have the most uncomfortable cramps in my legs." She moaned.

"In your legs!" Georgia said with excitement. "You can feel your legs!"

Kirsten smiled. "Yes but it sure as hell hurts." She said with less enthusiasm.

"Well can u feel this?" Georgia asked then she pinched Kirsten's legs.

"Oww!" Kirsten squealed. "You've got nails!" Georgia laughed. She then tickled her mum's feet. Kirsten screamed. "Ahh! No! Don't tickle me please! I can't take it." Georgia laughed. "Well can you move your legs?" She asked.

Kirsten frowned. "Not really actually. A little bit." She showed Georgia that she could lift them up to a certain height but that was it. "Not enough strength to stand."

Georgia grew a cunning smile. "You know, I think I have an idea that could change that."

----------------------------

"You ready?" Georgia asked supportively. Kirsten was in her swimming costume, sitting on the pool's edge, her legs dangling in the water. Georgia was already in the water smiling at her hesitant mum. Kirsten was nervous; truthfully she wasn't ready. She was scared and she didn't feel her legs were strong enough yet but the fact was, it meant a lot to Georgia and she would do anything for her little girl. Kirsten sighed and smiled.

"Ok put this around your waist." Georgia said passing her ring float. Kirsten did. "Take my hands and slide in." Kirsten slipped in slowly. "I've got you." Georgia promised her. As Kirsten got fully in the water she was adrift to the surface as the float held her up. Georgia guided her into the centre of the pool. "Can you feel your toes touching the floor?"

Kirsten nodded and smiled. "A little. Yeah."

"Good. I'll pull you out further." Georgia said pulling her into the deeper end of the pool. Kirsten held tightly onto her daughter's arms. Georgia was the deeper of the two of them. When Kirsten's toes were no longer close to the ground, Georgia swung her mum round to the deeper end of the pool.

"Start swaying your legs."

Kirsten did, very slowly though. She used a lot of strength and power for such small results but every motion meant a closer step to success and a full recovery. Georgia slowly let go of Kirsten's hands and let her float by herself. Georgia smiled floating on her back. "Look at you! You're keeping yourself up!"

Kirsten smiled. "I guess I am."

After a minute, Georgia realised Kirsten had really got the hang of that. "Do you want to try treading water without the ring?"

"Uh…" Kirsten hesitated.

"I'll hold onto you. I promise." Kirsten saw the hope in her daughter's eyes again and she smiled. "Ok. You won't let go?"

"I won't let go." Georgia shook her head. "Ok put your arms under the ring and grab onto my right arm." Kirsten did shakily. It was clear she was scared but Georgia was confident she could do it. And Kirsten found it easy to trust Georgia so, despite all her fears; she did as she was told. Georgia threw the ring to the side of the pool.

Kirsten started to panic; she felt as though she was going under. She lashed about frantically. Georgia took Kirsten's hands, placed them on her shoulders and tucked her arms under Kirsten's under-arms, carrying most of her weight. "I can't…I want the float."

"You can't stop now. You're doing great. I won't you let go, I swear." After a moment Kirsten nodded. She looked down through the water at her legs. They swayed slowly through the water, her feet bent inwards. Georgia grinned widely as she watched her mum concentrate. She felt like a proud mum. "Well done. You're getting the hang of this." Kirsten smirked but didn't look up. She held onto Georgia's shoulders tightly at first but started to loosen her grip as she realised Georgia wouldn't let anything happen to her.

Georgia noticed Kirsten's improvement and slid her hands down to Kirsten's elbow, releasing more of her weight. Kirsten took more control as she had to and she realised she wasn't finding it as hard as she thought it would be. Kirsten smirked. "Oh my god…I didn't believe I could do this."

"I did." Georgia said. Kirsten smiled. "You want to try on your own? Treading water?" Kirsten face filled with terror. "Sorry. No. It's ok. Next time. That's too far. You've done wonderful already today. We can lead up to that."

Kirsten paused. "I want to try."

Georgia raised her eyebrows. "You do?"

"Well what do I get in return?" Kirsten asked with a cunning grin.

Georgia thought schemingly. "A big hug and if you do really well I'll bake us some cookies." Kirsten smiled. "The ones with the chocolate drops?"

"Whatever Lady Fortuna wants." Kirsten smiled and took a deep breath. "Are you ready...?" Georgia slowly stroked her hands down to the tips of Kirsten's fingers then took her hands away. Kirsten looked like she was going to go under for a second but she managed to hold herself up. Georgia screamed. "You're treading water mum! You're treading water! By yourself!" Kirsten's head and neck were just above the water but she was still keeping a steady pace and managing to stay up. Kirsten was using every amount of energy stored in her to keep her legs moving enough to stay afloat. Her arms were in fact doing a lot of the work. Her legs weren't fast or strong yet but this would surely help.

"Paddle to me." Georgia said swimming back a few feet.

"What?" Kirsten asked panting a little.

"Doggy-paddle. Come towards me." Georgia put her arms out.

Kirsten sighed. "Those cookies better be damn good." Georgia giggled. Kirsten screwed up her face as she tried to make her legs push her forward. "Ugh…Ugh…" She puffed out as she strived her way to her daughter. Kirsten thought she was at a lost cause. She certainly wasn't moving very fast and she didn't feel like she was even moving at all. But she was proved wrong when she saw Georgia's hands in front of her face.

She stopped for a moment, treading water as she looked up and smiled at her daughter. "Did I just swim or did you move closer to me?"

"You swam!" Georgia said with a huge grin on her face. Kirsten laughed at herself. "Do you want milkshake with those cookies?" Georgia said so incredibly proud of Kirsten.

"Do you want to stop?" Georgia asked, holding Kirsten up under her arms, sensing that her mum was getting tired. Kirsten panted. "No. It's only a few feet to the end. I can make it."

"Good. Come on then." Georgia swam backwards slowly in front of Kirsten, holding her arms out just in case but she never grabbed hold. She got to the end all by herself. Georgia pulled her in the last 10 centimetres so she sat on the step. "You did it!" She shrieked. "You swam! You were swimming by yourself!" She pulled her into a hug. They both laughed and hugged tightly bobbing about. "Thank you." Kirsten said.

"I didn't do anything. You were the one who achieved something you never thought you would. Trust me after this you'll be running the New York marathon in no time." Kirsten laughed. "I am so so soooo proud of you mum" Georgia said which made Kirsten blush. "Dad would be too." That saddened Kirsten a wee bit but she knew she was right. "You're right! He would have." She said cheerfully although she wished Sandy could have seen her tackle this. Seen mother and daughter tackle it together.

"So you ready for those cookies?" Georgia said and Kirsten nodded. The phone rang. Georgia bounced up. "I'll get it." She got to the door leading into the kitchen. "You ok by yourself?"

"I'm fine." Kirsten assured her and Georgia went inside. "I'm fine." She repeated to herself.

Georgia picked up the phone in the kitchen. "Hello?" She said cheerfully.

"Hey GG."

"Hey, its my bestest brother!" She said grinning down the phone.

"We just won't tell Ryan that." Seth said.

"It's our secret." Georgia laughed. "O M G! Guess what mum just did?"

"Uh…-"

"She swam!" Georgia butt in. "All by herself, she was swimming!"

"That's huge!" Seth grinned. Georgia looked out the kitchen window checking on her mum. She was sliding across the side of the pool, to get to her chair Georgia assumed. She seemed capable. "That's amazing! I thought the doctors said she may never walk again."

Georgia walked around the kitchen island to get a tablecloth to dry her feet because she was sliding about. "I know but she got some feeling in her legs this afternoon."

"Well that's great. Tell her Ryan and I are very proud of her."

"I will." Georgia said moving back around the island.

"Any news on Dad?"

Georgia paused. "No. Nothing new. No change." He lowered his head; defeated again. "But its only 5. If mum's up for it later we'll go down to the hospital."

Georgia started to walk back outside. "Can I speak to her?"

"Yeah…" Georgia said as she looked up but she trailed off when she couldn't see her Kirsten. She looked around her. "Mum?"

"Georgia?" Seth said over the phone.

"Mum!" Georgia screamed as she saw her floating in the pool. She dropped the phone on a panicking Seth.

Georgia dived into the pool. She opened her eyes immediately underwater to see her mum. Kirsten was floating at the bottom of the pool trying to use her arms to pull her up. Her legs had clearly failed on her completely because they were dangling below her lifelessly. Georgia wrapped her arm around Kirsten's stomach and pushed them up to the surface with her feet, off the bottom of the pool. As they got to the surface Kirsten gasped for air she had been starved of for almost too long. She hung her head over Georgia's body too exhausted to hold herself up.

Georgia swam to the side of the pool. She held onto Kirsten as she got out the pool then pulled her mum out; Kirsten sat almost upright. "Are you ok? I am so sorry! I am so sorry!" Georgia said bursting into tears. Kirsten was still trying to catch her breath and was coughing up a little water. Georgia put her hands on Kirsten's arms to hold her up and rubbed her back. Georgia sniffled. "Maybe too much for one day." Kirsten said still breathless. Georgia pulled her into a hug. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I know." Kirsten said comfortingly. Georgia sobbed. "I pushed you too hard. I shoulda known you weren't ready."

Kirsten brought her weak arms around her daughter, embracing the hug. "I'm fine." Georgia sighed relieved. "It was me. I slipped. I just need to lie down." Kirsten said reassuringly.

**20 minutes later….**

Kirsten lay on the couch in her gym trousers and Sandy's Berkeley jumper and Georgia brought down a duvet to put over her. Georgia came in from the kitchen and pulled the coffee table up beside the couch. "Here's your coffee, the remote, this weeks Cosmo and I will just get on those cookies, do you need another pillow?"

Kirsten laughed. "I'm perfectly comfy thank you sweetie."

"Good. Oh and here's the phone. You should call back Seth. He's probably completely freaked."

Georgia left to bake cookies and Kirsten dialled Seth's dorm room number.

"Mum?" Seth answered the phone in a second.

"Hi Seth."

Seth sighed, "Oh thank god. What happened? Are you ok? I just heard Georgia screaming."

"I'm fine. Had a slippery incident with the side of the pool but don't worry; no bones broken, no limbs fallen off. I'm fine."

"Well you should tell the girl she really knows how to scare." Kirsten laughed. "So how are you? I mean really? With dad not around."

Kirsten nodded as she sighed "It's hard. I wish you and Ryan were here."

"Yeah we do too. We're coming back as soon as we can."

"Well that's the reality of being stuck in college." Kirsten smirked.

"Well I hope reality doesn't last too long." They both paused.

"Seth don't worry about us. I want you and Ryan to both do well at college. You only have one go at this. If there was something wrong you know I would call you in a second."

"I know but I can't help it, you know, it's you and it's my sister, and its_ dad_…" Kirsten felt a shiver of sorrow run through her body when she heard Seth say 'dad'. "I just wish there was something we could do."

"Do something that will make your dad proud when he wakes up." She told him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those of you who are observant and read 'Something Unpredictable', you might notice that Georgia coming home from school is the same sequence as when she comes home from school in Scotland when she is about to meet Sandy and Kirsten for the first time. She yells to her mum, goes into the kitchen dumps her bags and takes off her jacket and shoes while rambling on.

Just thought that should be something I'd point out.

Also the thing about 'reality' I tagged from Kirsten and Sandy's conversation at Suriak when Sandy says 'I hope reality doesn't last too long' or something along those lines.

Kay well thanks for reviews. This is a fast update. Don't know how soon it will be to the next. I've started but have to go through it in my head first. Lol

Kiki xoxo


	8. The Epiphany

The Epiphany 

"Hey Georgia!" Kirsten yelled as she came up to her daughter's bedroom on Tuesday morning. "Guess who managed to getup the Stair Glider all by herself!" She grinned as she pushed open the bedroom door. However Kirsten's smile dropped when she saw Georgia lying on her bed with her head in her pillow crying.

"Georgia, sweetie," Kirsten said climbing onto her bed. "What's wrong?"

Georgia sat up and didn't say anything she just fell into her mother's arms. "Hey, hey, it's ok, you're ok. Eh? What's wrong?" Georgia came out of the hug once she had stopped crying. She giggled. "Sorry. I wet your shirt." She said, looking at the watermark where her tears had fallen.

Kirsten smiled gently. "That's ok." She took her thumb and wiped her daughter's cold cheeks dry. "Now what's wrong sweetie?"

Georgia took a breath. She started from the beginning. "Once, when I was 5 years old, Anne came into my bedroom and found me crying on my bed. When she asked me what was wrong I told her that 'I didn't know my daddy'." She screwed her face up, ready to start crying again. Kirsten gave her a sympathetic head tilt. "I don't want to forget dad."

Kirsten kissed her temple and pulled her into her arms. "Oh Georgia don't worry about that. You won't. Ok? You won't. I promise you. Everything will be ok." She took a breath and sighed. "We'll be ok."

------

"Are you sure you're up for school?" Kirsten asked again.

"Yeah. I think its better that I take my mind off dad. Everywhere I turn in this house there's memories and no matter how deep I bury those memories, thousands more keep coming to my mind. It's easier at school."

Kirsten nodded. "It won't be long. Ok? It won't."

Georgia nodded. "I'll see you after school." She said.

"Oh!" Kirsten called after Georgia before she ran outside to get a lift from Elle. "Don't be back late. Grace is coming round with her nieces remember?"

"Ok! Love you!"

"I love you too." Georgia and Kirsten always made sure to tell each other 'I love you' before going out without one another; you never know when it might be your last goodbye.

-------

Kirsten didn't go into work that morning. She was too exhausted. She hadn't slept since she left the hospital 10 days ago. Recently, she had started to feel sick a lot of the time. Not all day but most of it.

Kirsten scrambled frantically through her cupboards and grabbed two boxes and piled them on her lap then took herself into her bedroom emptying the boxes onto the bed.

Out fell memories and objects of affection. Everything that she and Sandy had experienced together; everything that had mattered; she set aside and keepsake of.

She found a movie stub from their first date. A small empty Minute Made carton from the first time Sandy made her breakfast in bed. She then pulled up Sandy's Berkeley t-shirt. She unfolded it, taking a moment to picture him in it. She then gripped it tightly in her hands. It even smelt like Sandy.

Then she found it. Sandy's class ring from Berkeley. It was bronze with a red gem in it. Sandy came to Kirsten's dorm room one night and asked her to study with him and he gave her the ring as a proposal. She slid the ring on her wedding finger and held onto it with her other hand.

_Knock, knock, knock._

_Kirsten Nichol opened the door to find a handsome Senior standing in her doorway._

"_You." She said with a sly grin. "I'm not surprised to see you here."_

"_So you were expecting me?" Sandy asked with a grin. _

_Kirsten folded her arms and leant against the frame of her doorway. "So what's it this time Sandy Cohen? What excuses have you come up with to please your horny adolescent mind?"_

"_Were you always this wonderful or did you have to work at it?" Sandy asked smiling._

_Kirsten smirked. "What a line. You use that on all the girls?"_

_Sandy paused then shook his head. "No." _

_Kirsten rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't. Cos you're a guy and all college guys want is 'true love' not a never-ending list of girls you managed to score." She hinted with sarcasm. _

"_Is it hot out here or is that just you?" Sandy asked with a grin. Kirsten tilted her head and giggled a little bit. "What do you want Sandy?"_

"_Well you see I have this test tomorrow…it's a flirting test and I was wondering if I could practice on you?"_

_Kirsten raised her eyebrows. "Goodnight Sandy Cohen." _

"_Wait!" Sandy said. "There's something wrong with my eyes…" Kristen turned around and looked at them. "I can't take them off you." Kirsten sighed and walked into her dorm room. "No, no, no!" Sandy said laughing. He put his hand on the door to stop Kirsten from shutting it. "Seriously, I do need your help. I have a History of Art test tomorrow and I could really use your expertise."_

_Kirsten squinted her eyes and glared at him. She smiled. "Well I don't come for free." _

"_Will this tempt you?" Sandy asked, presenting Kirsten with a large bronze and red gemmed ring. Kirsten smiled. "Is that your class ring?" She asked._

"_Yeah." Sandy said. "So what do you say? Kirsten Nichol, will you be my study partner?" _

_Kirsten laughed. "Of course I will Sandy Cohen."_

Kirsten looked at the rings on her fingers. She brought her right hand to her mouth and gasped when the loneliness hit her. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She fell forward on the bed, burying her face in her arms as she cried, and cried, and cried.

"_I do like the Solomon Burke." Sandy said looping his arms around Kirsten's waist as she leant forward on the bed. Kirsten sat up. "Sandy?" _

_He took her hand and stood her up in front of him. He wiped her cheek with his thumb. "Baby, why are you crying?"_

_Kirsten sniffed_. "_Oh Sandy,_ _I can't even __begin__ to explain to you how much I miss you." He put his hands on her waist comfortingly, protecting her from her fears. "When I lie in our bed in the morning and think about not seeing you in the day it makes me not want to get up." _

"_Kirsten listen to me…you are my wife. At this moment and forever and I will always love you. I'm never far away." He said twirling her wedding rings. _

_Kirsten smiled. "I love you too."_

_He frowned and looked down at her hand. "You found my ring." _

"_Yeah…amongst other things. You're right; we really do need to clean out that closet." She said with a smile. _

_Then she suddenly buried her face into the crook of his neck and cried blissfully. Tears streamed down her pale and vanishing cheeks as she held onto him urgently. Sandy kissed her forehead then her mouth; silencing her sobs with his lips. Kirsten distracted herself from crying and kissed her husband back. She brought her hands up to his neck but as she placed them on his shoulders he turned to ash in her hands._

_She opened her eyes and found herself on a beach. The sand was blowing in the strong wind and flying through her hands._

_She looked in front of her and saw a single red rose floating on the rippling surface of the sea. She frowned. She didn't understand what was going on. There was no one around her. No one on the beach but her. Not a bird in the sky and not a sole on the sand. She walked in to the tide of the water. She bent down and delicately took the rose in her hand and looked at the flower for a moment. What did this mean? Why was she here? A single petal fell off the rose and blew away in the wind. Kirsten watched it fluttering away into the horizon._

_Then suddenly, out of nowhere a wave came and pulled only her under. She couldn't open her eyes and she wriggled trying to escape. Finally she stopped feeling like she was being thrashed about in the water's ferocity. She opened her eyes and she was at the bottom of the ocean. She looked around her when she heard a little girl's cry. She saw who she thought was her daughter when she was around 5 years old. "Georgia?" She tried to call out but her words didn't travel through the water. _

"_Mummy…Mummy" The young Georgia called out. "Help me!" She screamed as she was being pulled away by the waves. _

_Kirsten tried to swim towards her but she was held back at her feet. Her legs were chained together and the chain was attached to a weight which was trapped in some rocks. She tried as hard as she could to swim up but she couldn't kick her legs or get away from her restraints. _

_Georgia's voice faded away. "Georgia!" Kirsten screamed. Then, mysteriously, she heard her own voice around her. "I want my baby girl, Sandy!" She heard repeated. She remembered that was what she had cried to Sandy when they thought they had lost their baby. _

_A black cloud grew at the top of the ocean that started to travel down to Kirsten. It started to isolate her confused mind. It surrounded her and Kirsten felt like this darkness was taking over her body and her intelligence. She turned to get out but everywhere she turned there was darkness. Then below her was a hole. She hovered above the hole. Though it looked scary the hole seemed like her only way out. She got sucked in and she fell. She fell. She fell and she continued to fall and then she…_

Kirsten jolted her eyes open with a start. She gasped, feeling like she had just fallen into her body from high above. She felt so fragile and vulnerable. That dream or nightmare had terrified her. She didn't know what it all meant. She was partly frightened to know.

She heard the front door shut. _Georgia._ She thought. She wiped her eyes quickly then wheeled herself around to look in the mirror. Her eyes were only slightly red. Hopefully Georgia wouldn't notice. "Mum!" She heard her daughter yell.

"In my bedroom." She quietly yelled back.

As Kirsten looked closer at herself in the mirror she was slightly horrified to her very core. She was ashen, her eyes were overcast and her collarbone and shoulder blades were jolting their way out of her skin. She could feel her spine through the back of her t-shirt. She knew she hadn't exactly been taking the best care of herself in the last week and a half – she was too miserable to do anything for herself – but she never expected to see the skeleton like frame that was in front of her.

Footsteps came closer down the corridor and Georgia popped her head in her room. "Hi mum."

"Hi sweetie." Kirsten said with a maternal smile, turning around.

Georgia frowned. "What's all this?" She asked walking over to the bed. "Oh just some stuff your dad and I kept hold of from college and other places." Georgia smiled as her eyes scammed the objects scattered out on the bed; everything was so typical of Sandy Cohen. Georgia looked up at her mum. "Grace is just about arriving."

Kirsten nodded. "Ok. I'll-I'll be done in a minute."

"Mum, are you ok?" Georgia asked concerned. "You look very pale."

"I'm fine." Kirsten insisted. "Just tired."

----------------

Kirsten wheeled herself down the ramp Ryan had made for her last year to enable her to get around the house the way she should. Grace had just shut the door behind her when she came into the living area. Georgia had a baby girl in her arms that must have been around 20 months and at Georgia's side was another girl who appeared to be 6 years old. Kirsten went up to them as they sat on the couch. "Alexis, this is my mum. Kirsten." The little girl, dressed in a gorgeous pink summer dress, waved at Kirsten.

"Hi Alexis. I love your dress." Kirsten said sweetly. "And who is this?" Kirsten asked with awe as she took the baby into her arms. "Emily." Alexis answered.

"Is that your name? Are you Emily?" Kirsten asked holding Emily above her head. Emily giggled. Georgia watched how her mother's smile grew when she held Emily in her arms and it made her feel happy.

"So what do you want to do today Alexis? Your mum brought a box of toys with you." Georgia asked.

"Swimming! Swimming! I wanna go swimming!" Alexis said jumping up and down.

Kirsten sat in the shallow end of the pool with Emily in a baby inflatable seat. She had her legs stretched out in front of her. She had a good amount of feeling in her legs today. Perhaps because she got a little sleep. She pulled Emily around her in the water and Emily laughed. She started to slam her hands in the water. "Splish…splash, splish, splash." Emily giggled and Kirsten smiled at her innocence.

Kirsten watched her daughter on the other end of the pool trying to teach Alexis how to dive. She was doing a sitting-dive. Georgia was standing and crouching beside her putting her arms into the right position.

"Ok put your arms above your head, yeah straight up, together. Ok and now, arch yourself forward." Georgia said guiding her to the position. "Now protect your head with your arms so, yeah," Georgia started "Ok good now watch me then fall forward, ok?"

Georgia sat on the side of the pool beside her and led by demonstration. Alexis copied Georgia's dive almost successfully. "Ow!" Georgia smiled. "What a belly flop!" Alexis just laughed. Georgia climbed out of the water and hoisted Alexis up by the hands. "Jump! Jump! Jump!" Alexis said hopping about.

So Georgia scooped her up and threw Alexis into the pool. Alexis screamed with joy as she flew in the air. Kirsten laughed to herself as she saw Georgia play with the little girl. "Watch out below!" Georgia called out before she dive bombed into the water. Alexis laughed at her.

After they got out of the water Kirsten took care of little Emily and put fresh clothes on her. _"Should your socks go on first, or your pants?" Kirsten asked Emily who was lying on the floor in front of her. Emily pointed at the socks Kirsten was holding up. "Ssssssocks!" Emily called out. _

_ "Yes. Very good. Your socks go on first."_

_Emily kept squirming trying to get way when Kirsten was dressing her. She was laughing as she ran around obviously thinking it was a game. "Who's a troublemaker Emily, eh?" Kirsten asked her laughing too. _

_ "I'm a troublemaker!" Emily announced with a smile. _

_On the sofa in the family room Georgia and Alexis watched American football. "So you have to tell me how to play because I don't know." Georgia told Alexis. Alexis was very much into American football. She used to watch it a lot with her dad when he was around. Georgia knew this and decided to encourage her to stop playing and watching football just because her dad wasn't around to enjoy it with her. Some advice she thought perhaps she should take in herself. _

_"Ok Emily, first we'll put your blocks away and then we'll get dinner." Kirsten said to Emily. Emily walked around Kirsten picking up the blocks and putting them back in the case they came in. "Thank you Emily. I like that you helped me put away your building blocks." Kirsten said to Emily with simplicity but Emily speared to completely understand. _

_The doorbell rang. Kirsten sat up in her wheelchair and put Emily on her lap. Georgia answered the door. "Hi Grace."_

_"Evening Georgia."_

_ "Hi, Kirsten Cohen." Kirsten smiled offering Grace her hand._

_"Grace. Nice to meet you. You have a beautiful home and a very charming daughter." _

_ Kirsten smiled. "Thank you. You have two beautiful nieces." _

_"Thank you." Grace said in return." Come on Alexis. Say thank you to Kirsten and Georgia then go put your sister in the car." _

_Alexis jumped doff the sofa. "Thank you for having me."_

_ "You are very welcome Alexis." Kirsten said. _

_"'hank…'o" Emily said pointing at Kirsten. _

_ "Who's a troublemaker?"_

_"I'm a troublemaker!" Emily said jumping up and down._

_ Grace headed out after them as well. "Goodnight." She said._

_Kirsten and Georgia looked at each other and smiled. "That was fun." Georgia said._

_"Yes it was. That was a good suggestion you made; having them round here."_

_ "Thanks. You were great really. You know the only time I've seen you smile the way you did when you held Emily was when I called you mum for the first time."_

_"I still smile whenever you call me mum. Even if it's just in my head." Kirsten said._

_ "I'm glad we're not one of those families were the mother and her teenaged daughter despise each other." Kirsten said._

_"Of course not!" Georgia laughed. She walked over to her mum and crouched down in front of her. "I love you mum. I am your daughter _now and forever I will always be your little girl. I'm never far away." She said with an angelic smile. Kirsten's eyes widened. She had heard those words before.

"Uh…I've gotta go." Kirsten said wheeling herself out of Georgia's way.

"Go? Where?"

"Just to see someone. I'll be back soon. Just uh…there's some mac and cheese in the fridge." And with that Kirsten had gone out the door and had a driver imminently pick her up and driver her straight to the hospital.

----------------

"Hey baby." Kirsten said stroking Sandy's hand gracefully. "I had a dream today…you were in it and I want you to know that…I'm here for you too. OK, baby? I'm gonna be here when you wake up and I'm gonna be there to see you get better and I'll walk again and you can surf with Georgia and I'll be there for all of that. I promise. I love you so much and you don't deserve this." Kirsten smiled and looked down at er hand. "Look what I found." She took Sandy's class ring off her finger. "Your class ring." She slid it on his finger. "Now that, you haven't seen in years. We should go through all that stuff together when you get home." Kirsten smiled.

"I brought something." Kirsten said pulling a pink i-pod mini out of her handbag. "I hope Georgia doesn't go mad when she sees that it's missing."

Kirsten put one headphone in Sandy's ear and the other in her ear. She scrolled down and found just what she was looking for. She pressed 'play' and put it on repeat. She lay her head down on Sandy's chest and relaxed as she listened to his heartbeat and the music. She smiled and whispered. "Oh I do like the Solomon Burke."

--------------------------

Well I hope you are happy with that. There's a lot of symbolism in Kirsten's dream. When Sandy turns to ash in her hands it embodies Kirsten's fears about having to say goodbye to him. Her trapped legs are her paralyses and her inability to reach Georgia is her fear about losing a connection with her daughter. And finally the darkness falling is reflecting way back on the second season which will be explored more in the next few chapters.

Aside from the fact the dream was in italics, the first clue that it was her dream was that she stood up. 

Anyways. Thank you for reviews. I realise these updates have been fast but I'm not sure how soon the next might be. Could be very or might not be. Friday at the least. Please give your opinions. Suggestions are very welcome.

Kiki xoxo


	9. The Weight of the World

The Weight of the World

_Kirsten felt the sand brush against her face as she stood on the beach again. She was by herself for a second time. She saw the red rose floating on top of the water. She stepped into the water's edge, the cold water icing her bare feet, and picked up the red rose. However, one by one the petals fell off. The sky went from day to night and day again within seconds and kept repeating. Time was passing quickly and the rose was dying in her hands but there was nothing she could do. As she looked down into the water where the petals fell at her feet that black hole lingered again. Before the last petal unclipped itself from the rose Kirsten stepped into the black hole and fell down…_

Kirsten groaned. "Ahhh!" Her head was splitting. Her alarm clock was continually beeping so she flung her hand out to the side to turn it off but accidentally knocked over a photo of her and Sandy on holiday in Mauritius. She jumped onto her side. "Oh!" She said looked down at the broken glass and scratched photo on the floor. She scrunched up her face before looking at the clock at her bedside. "O ssssshhit!" Kirsten whined. She was going to be late for her physiotherapy appointment if she didn't hurry up and get ready. She only had 20 minutes until she had to leave.

----

"Kirsten have you been eating properly since I last saw you?" Her physiotherapist asked her.

"Uh I don't-I don't think I've _not_ been eating."

"You don't think?" Dr Paul probed her.

"Look I'm fine. I'm tired- maybe I haven't been sleeping normally but…" Kirsten shrugged. "I don't think there's any reason to worry."

"Well I'm sorry Kirsten but I am worried. Do you know what your weight is?"

Kirsten thought. "I haven't stepped on scales pretty much ever but I think probably… 8, 8 and a half stone give or take a few pounds." She said calmly.

Dr Paul raised his eyebrows. "7 and a half stone." Kirsten was a little surprised. "Oh." She said.

"That's clinically underweight for your height and you're way out of your BMI and since I saw you for the first time last week, you've actually lost 8 pounds. Is everything ok at home?"

"What you mean since my family was in a bomb attack, I was paralysed or since my husband hasn't been conscious for 11 days?" Kirsten asked scornfully. Dr Paul sighed uncomfortable. Kirsten shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"That's ok." He paused and folded his arms. "If you don't want to talk to anyone professional then I advise you take my words seriously, Kirsten. If your body becomes malnutritioned then the less and less likely it is you'll have the chance of making a full recovery." Kirsten looked up at him. She felt so insulted. She didn't even notice she wasn't eating. She thought she looked a little under the weather but not 8 pounds under. Kirsten sighed and nodded.

"You want to run into your husband's arms again don't you?" He asked her rhetorically.

-------

Kirsten next made a visit to Sandy. But when she went into Sandy's room he wasn't lying in his bed. In fact, the bed was made and the room looked cleaned out. Kirsten panicked. She rushed to the front desk. "Where's my husband? Sandy Cohen? Where is he?"

"Mrs Cohen, your husband was taken to have another CAT scan." The receptionist said.

"Oh." Kirsten said. "Again?" She asked.

"Yes." Sandy's usual doctor answered from behind her. "We were worried he was having minimal brain activity."

"And?"

"And…we were right." He paused. "I'm sorry Kirsten, Sandy hasn't made any improvements since he arrived at the hospital and he may never. Judging on the lack of in the last almost two weeks nothing seems hopeful."

_No. _Was all Kirsten could think. _No, no, no, no, no, no…_ Kirsten had been holding onto the hope that she knew was there all this time but that all crashed down now. She didn't know for sure if Sandy was going to pull through.

"Uh…can I see him?" She asked.

"I'm afraid not. We're going to be running a lot more tests today. It may take a while. It's pretty hectic around here. Come back tomorrow." He told her.

-----

Kirsten was trying to calm her mind by reading a book in the living room when her mobile phone rang. She looked at the front of it and saw a picture of Seth and she smiled greatly. "Oh hi sweetie." She said with relief.

"Hey mom. How are you?"

"Ugh. I'm so glad you called. I have had such a bad day but I'll tell you about it later when you and Ryan get home."

"Uh mom, haven't you looked outside?" Seth asked her.

"At what?" Kirsten said, moving over to the windows.

"The storm!" Seth said. "It's like the worst rain in 25 years!"

"What?" Kirsten opened the curtains. "Oh no!" Kirsten sighed. "Well I don't want you and Ryan driving in the rain."

Seth could hear the disappointment in her voice and felt very regretful. "But hey we'll drive through as soon as the bridges and roads open again."

"Ok." Kirsten said. "Stay warm won't you?" Kirsten told her son motherly.

Seth giggled. "Of course mom. Ryan and I will see you and Georgia soon. I love you mom."

Kirsten smiled. "Love you too Seth."

Kirsten's hands were trembling.

"Mum what's wrong?" Georgia sat down on the coffee table in front of her mum.

Kirsten scrunched her face up, gritted her teeth and made tight fists trying to make her hands stop shaking. She didn't want Georgia to see her like this. Georgia put her hand to her forehead. "You're freezing." She said feeling Kirsten's sweaty forehead. "You've really broken into a cold sweat." Her hair was even beginning to get moist. "What's wrong?"

Kirsten relaxed her face and looked down. She got very fidgety; swarming her hands over her legs, still trying to stop herself from shaking. Georgia asked her again. "What is wrong?" Kirsten shook her head and avoided any eye contact. "Are you ill? Do you feel sick? Should I call an ambulance?" Kirsten shook her head again. She mumbled 'no'.

"Then what? What is it?" Georgia was getting frustrated which made Kirsten more self-conscious. Georgia softened up. She took hold of her hands. "Mum, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

Kirsten took a breath. "I need a drink." She said shakily, terrified.

"Ok I'll get you some water but after we're talking about this."

"No, I mean…not that sort of drink."

Georgia sat back down in front of her. "What?" Georgia asked surprised but concern in her voice. "I'm sorry." Kirsten said.

"No, mum, it's ok. You've done nothing wrong. You're panicking that's all." Georgia held tightly onto Kirsten's hands. "You don't need a drink. That's not what you need, ok, having a drink won't help make this any easier. But you can talk to me. You don't have to be the strong mum all the time; you don't need to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. I know how hard this is for you."

Kirsten remained silent, her shaking slowly wearing off and nodded. "I know dad was your rock, and he _always_ will be, but while he's not here I can be your mini-rock." Kirsten smirked. "I'm your Pebble." Kirsten smiled.

Kirsten looked up. "Thank you. You shouldn't have to deal with this."

"That's ok." Georgia said sweetly. "You should probably cool down, eh? C'mon, I'll draw you a relaxing bath."

------------------------------------------------------

"Ryan I need your help." Georgia said down the phone.

"What's wrong? Are you ok? Is it Sandy? Is Kirsten ok?"

"I don't know. She almost had a relapse tonight Ryan." Georgia said quickly.

Ryan was taken aback. "I didn't think Kirsten would…slip up. Even with this."

"Well the truth of the matter is it might happen. As much as it kills me to admit it, that's the way it is." Georgia said a little spitefully.

"Don't be mad at her."

"I'm-" Georgia slumped back into the couch. "I'm not mad at her. I just don't want to let that happen to mum. I love her too much to watch her suffer…I don't want to be where you have already and I'm sure you don't want to be again." Georgia said strengthening her tone.

Ryan took everything Georgia said in and she was completely right that Ryan couldn't bare watching Kirsten fall apart again. He took control.

"Alright Georgia if she wants a drink give her something strong; Orange juice or something; something that will stop her cravings. Don't let her leave the house. Where is she now?"

"I put her in the bath."

"Good, right, well hopefully she has calmed down then. When she gets out keep a close eye on her but don't aggravate her. Seth and I will be there in a few hours, ok?"

"Ok…Ryan?" Georgia said softer. "When it first happened was it like she changed so much she was a totally different person? I mean she seems to have her life all together but tonight she was just a mess."

"We tidied things up once and we can do it again." Georgia nodded to herself. "I'll see you in a few."

30 minutes later, Kirsten hadn't come out from the bathroom and Georgia began to worry. She knocked on the door of Sandy and Kirsten's bathroom but there was no answer. "Mum?" After a longer moment of no answer Georgia decided to peek in and then enter. When Georgia widely opened the door she sighed as sadness and condolence dropped from the pity tree. Kirsten was dead to the world slouched on the bathroom floor near the toilet.

Georgia picked up a cloth and run it under warm water. She crouched down in front of her mum and wiped what was left of apparent sick off her chin. Kirsten never moved a muscle. Georgia ran her hand delicately from Kirsten's forehead to her cheek then pulled up the strap of her vest pyjama top. "Oh mum…" She said softly.

Ever since they had come home without Sandy, Kirsten hadn't been taking care of herself properly. She wasn't eating much and she almost never slept. Georgia was the one trembling now. Since Kirsten hadn't been eating it was worrying that she was throwing up. Would she have made herself sick? Maybe the saying 'worried sick' wasn't just something people said.

_At least she's asleep._ Georgia thought. She honestly had only slept a mere few hours in two weeks. She'd been so busy trying to keep herself busy and looking after Georgia even though she insisted she could look after herself. The unbreakable Kirsten Cohen had been broken. In the morning Georgia would be sure to pick up the pieces but until the sun rose, she would be at peace and free from all her demons.

Georgia scooped her mum up in her arms. Georgia struggled to position herself at first. Kirsten's weight was no problem; less than what it had been two weeks ago; light as air; but she was a lot taller than her daughter. Georgia was considerably shorter than the rest of the Cohens.

She did however manage to carry her 5'7 mum to her bed without dropping her or waking her up. She laid her out on her back gently and pulled her covers over her.

----------------------

The TV screen flashed and late night MTV blinked off. "Well that was a load of shite." Georgia mumbled to herself. She yawned and looked at the clock. 0:34. She couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. Before she went up to her room she went to check on her mum again.

She quietly opened the door but realised the side lamp was on so she popped her head in. "Hey…" She said softly.

Kirsten smiled. "Hey sweetie." She put her book down.

"You ready to talk to me yet?"

"You aren't my therapist." Kirsten said with a warning smile.

"You don't have a therapist!"

"That's because every Newspie goes to see theirs at least three times a week. They're addicted to their therapists who are ironically probably helping them overcome some kind of addiction and eventually after your therapist start convincing you to go three times a week you're starting every sentence with 'my therapist says...'"  
Georgia nodded. "My therapist says that's common fear." Kirsten titled her head then laughed. Georgia giggled too.

"You don't have a therapist because you don't need one." Georgia said. "But you scared me tonight…and I'm afraid if you don't talk to someone you'll break down again, and I might no be there to save you."

Kirsten smiled so moved by her daughter's compassion and support. Georgia was very mature for her age. She was definatly lucky to have her in her life. "Ok, for you, I'll talk." Kirsten said. Georgia shuffled closer. "Good." She said. "But first, no more not taking care of yourself. You eat proper meals, three times a day, we'll eat breaky and dinner together. You can't survive on coffee and that minging cranberry juice you're attached to." Kirsten smirked. "And you'll get some sleep. Whatever it takes. I know where you keep your address book, I can call the Newpsies in a second; I have the power." Kirsten laughed. "Ok, I promise. I'll try to do all those things."

"Good. Thank you. Now, what's on your mind?...Ok stupid question. I'll rephrase." Georgia thought for a long minute no clue of what to say or the right way to ask any sort of question. She gave in sighing and slouching her shoulders. "Just tell me something, _anything_."

Kirsten frowned looking down at her wedding ring her limp legs stretched out in front of her. She looked up. "I get cold at night. That's why I can't sleep. Usually your dad would put his arm around me and hold me closer and" Kirsten smiled occasionally as she reflected "maybe leave a flurry kisses along my neck." Kirsten grinned and traced finger along her shoulder and neckline. "And his warm breath would heat me up." Kirsten stopped deep in thought. She looked up at her daughter and said "I just miss him" frankly.

Georgia nodded. "I know, so do I." she took a breath. "See I knew you could do it; since the moment I met you I've had faith in you."

"C'mon, slide down." Georgia said and Kirsten did in her bed and Georgia climbed under the covers with her. "I'll keep you warm." She switched out the light and for the first time in a fortnight Kirsten slept peacefully all through the night.

------

"Don't worry Ryan I am positive this will take us back to the main road."

"Positive huh?" Ryan said sarcastically. "That's what you said an hour ago. I'm tired and Georgia and Kirsten have probably gone to bed now. It's 2 am."

"I told you we should stick to the main road but you had to take a shortcut!" Seth shouted.

"I took a shortcut!" Ryan retorted. "You were the one who wanted to go this way!"

"Uh not if memory serves." Seth snapped.

"If I was driving we wouldn't be lost like this." Ryan said under his breath.

"Who says we're lost?" Set asked.

"Look genius if you don't know where you are or where you're going that means you're lost!"

"Ah! The main road! See I told you we'd find it!"

Seth swung the front door open then popped his head in. "Hello?" He whispered. He waited for an answer. "Hello?...Make a sound if you can hear me." He whispered.

Ryan pushed passed him walking into the house. Seth swiftly followed him in and quietly closed the door behind him. They looked around and no one was in sight. There was no TV or music on up or downstairs either. It appeared that no one was around.

"You think they went to bed?" Ryan asked.

"That's what I'm hoping." Seth said still worried about what Ryan told him about his mum. "Let's check for Georgia first." The boys went upstairs but she wasn't in her room or anywhere else upstairs.

So they went downstairs to Kirsten's room. They could see there was no light coming out of it. Ryan slowly opened the door. They walked in and round to Kirsten's side of the bed. They stood and smiled.

Kirsten was curled up in a ball on her side facing Georgia who was very close to her and also in the same position facing her mum and their hands were linked. "I think Georgia took care of everything." Seth said.

"Your mum looks ok." Ryan whispered. "Sleeping."

Seth sighed a little. "She's ok." Georgia slowly opened her eyes when she realised her brothers were there. She smiled at them and mouthed 'hi' then fell back asleep again.

"C'mon." Ryan said walking away. Seth kissed his mum's forehead then followed Ryan out of his parents' bedroom and they too went to get some sleep.

-------------

With a bright sigh Kirsten wheeled herself into the kitchen the next morning. Her face lit up when she saw two of the most important people in her life in front of her. "You're here!" She shrieked with a grin.

Ryan and Seth put down their coffees and went over to Kirsten. They looked at each other slyly standing before Kirsten who was confused. After a second they whisked her up out of her chair and popped her down on the kitchen island. Kirsten giggled. "Hi sweetie." Kirsten said delightfully as Seth embraced her in a hug. As Kirsten looked at both of her sons in front of her she felt as thought she was up on cloud nine. She kissed Ryan's cheek as he went in for a hug too. "Hey Ryan."

Ryan hugged her tightly. "Kirsten."

"It's so good to see you." Kirsten said. "Are you staying for long?"

"Probably head back tomorrow night." Seth said.

"Well good good. " Kirsten said chirpily. "Are the girls around?" Ryan shrugged. "We're here to see you and Georgia. Sandy too."

"Where is Georgia?" Seth asked.

"Still sleeping." Kirsten answered. "I think she's exhausted. She had along day yesterday." Kirsten said but didn't really have intentions of telling her boys about exactly what happened last night. Ryan and Seth didn't want to force Kirsten to admit to it though. They would see how she was today before they made any drastic moves.

Georgia woke up an hour later and they boys sat down to talk to her while she ate breakfast and Kirsten was in her bedroom getting dressed.

"You ok, GG? After last night?"

"I'm fine." Georgia answered perfectly honest.

"What happened exactly?" Ryan asked.

"It…it was almost as if she was going through detox again, I guess." She shook her head. "I think she's just uberly stressed and she worked herself out. You know dad isn't doing so great and the physiotherapy hasn't made much improvement. She hasn't been swimming in a while."

Seth stared into space. "We should be here Ryan. I mean us leaving can't be any help to mum either. She should have her sons around her."

Georgia frowned. "I think mum knows in the long run you can't stay here. Uni and what not."

"Yeah but she can't put this all on you."

"She's not!" Georgia answered back. "She's not putting anything on me."

"Well she wouldn't tell us about what happened last night." Seth retorted.

"What reason does she have to? So she could keep you both out of college? So she can worry you? So you can put her back in rehab?" Georgia snapped.

Ryan touched Georgia's shoulder. "Ok, calm down. Look…the only person who can tell us what really is going on is Kirsten. It can't just be stress that set her off last night."

"Well…she's been having these dreams…" Georgia hesitated.

"What dreams?" Seth asked.

"Well I don't know really. But she's on a beach and there's a flower. No a rose! And she picks it up but then it dies. I don't know…I think she thinks she's the angel of death or something." Georgia said frowning.

Seth mused. "That'd be an interesting story to write about in English."

--------

"Hey boys." Kirsten said with a smile as they walked out onto the patio where she was reading.

"Mum we need to talk."

"Is something wrong?"

Ryan and Seth exchanged 'you start' looks. "We just have to be sure that you're ok before we go." Seth said.

"Yeah, Georgia told us about last night." Ryan added.

"I thought she would. She should, you're her brothers." Kirsten said.

"Yeah and you're her mum and you scared the hell out of her." Seth said and Kirsten bowed her head. Seth stepped forward. "Look, we're not mad." He said softly. "Just concerned. We don't want to have to spend everyday worrying about you relapsing."

"That's a huge burden for a 15 year old to carry." Ryan said awkwardly.

Kirsten lifted her head. "I know, I-I know! I swear to you both it's never going to happen." She said frustrated.

Seth sat down on a chair beside Kirsten. "That's all very well to say but the only way you can guarantee that is if you tell us what made you lose control last night."

Kirsten sighed and thought hard before she spoke. The moment she said it, the moment Kirsten opened her mouth she knew she wasn't thinking straight. Sadly things just happen that couldn't be explained easily.

"I'm tired and," Kirsten shock her head "I miss you boys. And I miss the feeling of walking in new shoes and cleaning and getting my own mug out the cupboard." Seth and Ryan sighed, never realising how frustrating it must be to not be able to do the simplest of things.

She looked down. "And I miss your dad so much." She welled up in tears. "And I love him so much and I just want him to come home." She broke down in tears, falling forward into her knees, covering head face with her arms. "I need him to come home."

Seth looked at Ryan pitifully whilst rubbing Kirsten's back. He pulled her round into his chest and hugged her. "We all do mum."

"I'm sorry." She wailed. "I love him, I miss him, I miss him, I do…."

"I know, mum, I know. It's ok." Ryan knelt down in front of Kirsten and took her hand, squeezing it tightly.

Kirsten never knew she had so many tears to cry.

---------

Kirsten decided that night, if she couldn't see Sandy then she would write him a letter.

_Dear Sandy, _

_Take me back to the place where we first met. Take me back to the good old days when we had that puppy love and we'd sneak out of class, play on the beach and have sleepless nights in our small Berkeley apartment. When you would hold me and suddenly everything would be ok. _

_Take me back to when we had our little Seth - He was the tiniest thing we ever decided to put our whole lives into but that was a time when we had no regrets._

_Honey you have no idea how much I need to see your face right now. Just to catch a glance of you smiling at me would make all my fears melt away. _

_Take me back twelve days, baby, before the evil met the good. Honey take me back to the good old days. _

_I love you… I love you. I am in love with you. I am in love with you, baby. I can't get tired of saying that. And I couldn't get tired of hearing it. I love you more than when I first met you. _

_Baby they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder but it just makes mine break. And I'm breaking down. And I know I've only got myself to blame but you see I thought I'd always have you with me. Nothing ever prepared me for your absence. _

_If you could see me now…I'm twirling my wedding rings, I'm shaking my head, I'm crying, there's words I refuse to believe and words I can't speak; only to you; I'm scared. I don't want to say goodbye to you Sandy. I won't say goodbye. I'm not going to…and I won't give up. No matter what the doctors say. You wouldn't give up on me and you're the stronger one. _

_And despite all the doubt, I am forever telling you that I love you; I swear that's true._

_I cannot live without you. _

_All my love, _

_Kirsten_

-------------

ok so I knoooooooooooooow this took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to update. Apologies. But I've already got half way, possibly all the way through the next chapter. And you WILL know what happens to Sandy so breathe deep and relax now. I iddn't plan doing a letter; my fingers just kept typing lol. Please tell me what you think. Thanks for all the great reviews.

Kiki xoxo


	10. The Normal Again

The Normal Again

Tick. Tick. Tick. Georgia stared at the clock. 11:59 pm. She looked back down at her dad. She sat on the edge of his hospital bed squeezing his hand. "You better wake up soon if you want to be with me when I turn 15." She smiled but with no movements from Sandy her smile dropped again. "Come one dad," she was whispering "please? I know you want to be here on my first birthday with you…" Georgia looked up at the clock; 11:59:43. She sighed.

She unclasped the necklace Sandy had given to her, looked at it then delicately put it in his hand. "Sorry daddy; kinda lost the last bit I had of this." She wrapped her father's strong fingers around the 'hope' necklace he had bought her then put his hand on his chest.

She shook her head then got up to leave. She got to the door and turned around for a last glance. For a moment Georgia thought she was imagining things; hallucinating; dreaming but she really wasn't.

Sandy's hand was clenching the necklace. "Dad? Dad? Oh my god, Dad!" Georgia said grinning and moving back over to his bed. He started to moan. "You're awake! Oh my god!"

"Owww!" Sandy groaned. "Don't yell. It's too early to yell."

"Are you kidding! Two weeks isn't too early."

"What?" Sandy said finally opening his eyes.

Georgia jumped on the bed. She hugged him. "Do you know what day it is?"

"Go on, tell me." Sandy said grinning and twitching his body.

"The 2nd of September." Georgia said proudly.

"You're 15! Happy Birthday!" Sandy grinning and gave her a cute-sy high 5 but then he realised something. "Wait." Sandy shook his head. "That means we were at the supermarket almost a fortnight ago."

"14 days dad. That's how long you were out for." Sandy's eyes grew wide. "Oh mum's gonna be so happy!"

Sandy's face relaxed. "She's ok?"

Georgia smiled. "She's ok. She should be here soon. She probably realised I jumped out my window." Sandy gave her a disapproving look. "But, Dad, you should know that she's-"

In her wheelchair, Kirsten came into the room with Seth and Ryan behind. When Kirsten saw Sandy awake she screamed. "Sandy!" Ryan quickly lifted her out of her chair and sat her on Sandy's bed in front of Georgia. She immediately fell forward onto his chest wrapping her arms around him tightly holding him close. "Kirsten." Sandy said with a slight chuckle as he hugged her back tightly. He had barely had the time to notice she was in a wheelchair.

Kirsten had been waiting for this moment for what seemed like a lifetime. No touch had ever felt so wonderful; Being held close, hearing Sandy speaking. She listened absorbedly to his beating heart as she buried her face in the crook of his neck.

"I thought we were going to lose you." Kirsten said as she started to cry.

Sandy then kissed Kirsten's forehead and she thanked God he was alive, he was ok and he wasn't taken away from her. These days without Sandy, Kirsten had found it challenging to find the will to keep holding on. Without Sandy she couldn't live. There's only his life in her life; his love is her life.

"I love you so much baby." Kirsten said, still sobbing.

"I love you too beautiful." Sandy said. Georgia hugged her mum from behind and turned her head to Seth and Ryan and smiled. Ryan sat down beside Georgia, putting his hand on her back while Seth sat on the other side of the bed. Sandy took his son's hand first then Kirsten linked her fingers in there too. They all smiled.

Just as seasons were made for change, lifetimes were made for these years. Now the days, the weeks and the years roll by but nothing would change the love inside the Cohen family.

------------------------------------------------

After a day spent in Sandy's hospital room with birthday cake, cheesy songs, Sandy's lame jokes, and high doses of medication the night drew over them…

"Kinda looks like art, doesn't it? I call it 'takes more than that to kill me, punk.' 'Punk' is what makes it art." Sandy said joking around as he looked at his electrocardiogram printout.

"Okay, I think we could all do with some rest." Kirsten said after she had finished gleaming at her husband. "Boys you can take the car…I'm going to get some coffee and stay."

"Seth give me a hug." Sandy said as Seth began to head for the door.

"What?" He asked turning around.

"Give me a hug." Sandy said holding out his arms from the hospital bed. "A man gets trapped in a fire he gets a little emotional now get over here and give your father some love."

Kirsten wheeled her chair around to Sandy's side after Seth moved out the way. "Honey I don't know how you can sleep with that thing beeping all the time." She implied about the monitor.

"Well if it stops beeping I'll be sleeping a lot longer than you think." Sandy said grinning and Kirsten, Seth and Ryan laughed.

"Stay well." Ryan said. Kirsten gave Sandy a kiss and then she and the boys left leaving Sandy and Georgia in the room, who was lingering behind.

"What's up princess?" Sandy asked Georgia as she awkwardly walked over to his window remaining completely silent. "Are you alright?"

"I just can't get over it dad. I mean I thought I was ok with it but it's just all coming back to me now you know?" She turned around. "I really thought you were gonna die."

Sandy smiled. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine. However I will be doing my shopping online from now on." He smirked.

Georgia paused moving around his bed. "Are you in pain?"

"Let's just say it's less painful since the last time your mother tried to make spaghetti." Sandy sneered.

"Stop that dad; I don't think it's funny!" Georgia said frustratedly, standing at the bottom of his bed. "I can't believe you're seeing this as one big joke!"

Sandy got serious sensing her tension. "I know you're upset princess; you went through a very distressing experience but if you calm down we can talk about this rationally."

Georgia shook her head. "You're always in control, aren't you; always do the right thing, always know what to say." Georgia said sarcastically. His management which she felt she needed and missed out on. "But what gets me is the police aren't even gonna find the maniacs who planned it all and even if they did, so what! They'd be out on the streets again within a few years."

"O c'mon Georgia, that's not going to happen." Sandy frowned.

"Yeah right dad!" Georgia spat back gesturing. "The legal system is a huge joke, people aren't even afraid of it anymore!" She walked around to the side of his bed.

Sandy's tone remained calm. "I'm upset too but as a lawyer I have to trust it will all fall through."

"I'm not a kid anymore, dad! Stop telling me fairytales!" Georgia said sincerely. Her frustration built up and she knocked over the tray of hospital by Sandy's bed angrily and walked away from Sandy.

Sandy looked around comically and smiling for a considerable amount of time. "… Hey I was gonna eat that."

Georgia turned around to him and gave him a harsh glare. Sandy used to always make her laugh but now his jokes just made her angry. "Everything's a damn joke to you dad!"

"So what, you don't think I'm angry? Stuck here in this hospital, my wife an inch away from being completely paralysed? You don't think I wanna get up outta here and knock some heads?-"

Georgia interrupted yelling. "-Yeah well I don't want it to happen again! Not to us!"

Sandy raised his hands trying to calm her down. "Georgia, princess, I understand that you're scared but the world can be a scary place. You have just got to learn how to deal with it, alright?"

"I've tried! I've tried to find my way but it's been so hard!" She shouted.

"Georgia, princess, no one forced any kind of responsibility on you."

"Well who else was gonna do it! First Anne leaves then Seth and Ryan…Who else was gonna keep everything together after you left us all alone?" She started to break down then. "You died and left us all alone!..."

Sandy climbed out of his bed and walked over to his daughter as she cried. He embraced her in a tight hug and kissed her forehead. "It's ok…It's ok. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere…I'm not leaving…"

-------------------------------

fast update! Didn't need 2 do as much as it thought… thanks for all the reviews. Keep ur comments coming!

Kiki xoxo


	11. The Distance Between Us

The Distance Between Us

"If I could open my arms and spread the length of the isle of Manhattan…"

"Seth, pick up your phone!" Kirsten whispered in a demanding manner. "Georgia's asleep." It was 1:30am and the Cohen's were finally driving home from the hospital. All together. All 5 of them.

"Hello." Seth whispered. The three kids were together in the back of Kirsten's Range Rover. Georgia was sitting in the middle and had drifted off, leaning against Ryan who was almost out of it too. "Hi Summer…"

"Hey Cohen!" She screamed hyper.

"Shhh…"

"Why are we shosshing? Whatever! I'm in town; you're in town we _so_ have to get together! I've missed you since college started…"Summer said.

"I know I've missed you too. How does tomorrow sound?"

"Great! Be at the diner for 12 and bring Ryan! Coop's here too. Mwa!"

----

"Ahhhhh!" Seth screamed into his pillow.

Ryan knocked on his bedroom door. "Seth?" He gave him a confused look.

"Finally, you're here! I need advice." Ryan sat down on the bed, preparing himself for Seth's troubles he was going to be loaded with. "You know that girl, Fara Grace?"

"Senior, yeah…why?"

"I kinda, well not kinda I did, well she did, she started it, it was all her really-"

"Seth!" Ryan cut him off.

"I'm innocent really."

"Seth, what did you do?"

"Ugh!" He buried his head in the pillow. Ryan couldn't hear what Seth mumbled with his head down.

"Seth, take your head out the pillow."

"I kissed her alright!" Seth said with a cry. "Now stop patronising me!"

"So how are you gonna torment yourself this time?" Ryan asked.

"I have to tell Summer…God dam my conscience!" Seth screamed.

There was a loud shriek that echoed down the corridor. "SETH!"

Ryan and Seth frowned at each other. "Was that Georgia?" Ryan asked. The boys got up and went into her room.

"Oh man, Georgia!" Seth said panicky when he saw her having a fit. He went down by her bedside. He took her pillow away from under her head so she was lying flat incase she choked on her tongue.

Georgia was shaking so violently that Seth was afraid to touch her. "GG, you're gonna be fine, ok, just hang on. It'll all be over in a minute."

---

Sandy climbed into his side of the bed beside Kirsten, who was reading. He switched off his bedside lamp, "Night hunny." He said kissing her cheek and tucked himself under the covers. Kirsten put her book down after a moment, turned off her light the rolled half of her body over Sandy and bent down, treating him with a passionate kiss.

A surprised Sandy pulled back. "What are you doing?"

"The book was boring." Kirsten said. Sandy kissed her again.

"You should read more often." He said before landing his lips on top of hers and sliding his tongue inside her mouth. He rolled on top of her and Kirsten was starting to lift off his shirt when…KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Sandy took a minute to pull away. "We're reading!" He yelled out. Kirsten grinned.

"It's Ryan." A voice came through the door. Sandy jumped off Kirsten onto his side of the bed just in time as Ryan walked in.

"What's wrong sweetie?" Kirsten asked.

"Georgia's having a fit." He said panting.

Sandy leaped out of the bed. "Get the medicine hunny." Kirsten said and Sandy diverted himself.

"I'll get it, you go, go!" Ryan said and Sandy ran out the room.

"Where is it?" Ryan asked Kirsten who felt completely hopeless; confined to the bed.

"Top drawer of my dresser." Kirsten said. Ryan scrambled through the drawer and found a clear bag with what looked like syringes in it. He held it up. "Is this it?"

Kirsten nodded. Ryan passed it to her. "Right, hold on." He said and scooped her up into his arms. Kirsten clinged onto his t-shirt tightly. "I won't drop you, you know." Ryan said as he ran down the corridor.

Kirsten smiled and loosened her grip. "I know, sorry." Ryan wanted to get upstairs fast for two reasons; 1) to help Georgia and 2) because Kirsten was wearing a nightie that was sliding down her legs and they were both getting embarrassed.

Sandy dashed in but Georgia was still fitting. He skidded down on the floor beside Seth. "How long has it been?"

"5 minutes 23 seconds. We were waiting to see if it would pass."

"That's ok." Sandy said. "You did the right thing."

Ryan came in and placed Kirsten on Georgia's bed beside her. Sandy signalled for her to give her the medicine. Kirsten took it out of its packaging and scooshed it up her nose with the inhaler. After 5 seconds Georgia's seizure finally started to wear off.

Seth sighed heavily standing up. Sandy stood beside him and patted his back. "You ok?"

"Yeah uh that was-"

"Frightening." Ryan finished. Seth nodded.

-------------------

Kirsten and Sandy stayed in Georgia's room that night just to watch her and make sure she was ok. However Kirsten fell asleep in the rested and familiar comfort of her husband's arms. She had that innocent smile that her face wore when she slept peacefully. Of all the things Sandy loved about Kirsten one of the things he loved most for sure was her smile.

Sandy watched her as she slept. He knew she hadn't got any sleep without him, because he knew he wouldn't sleep without her. In the 21 years they had been together the only nights that were restless for the both of them was on the off occasion when they were apart. But Sandy had slept enough hours for a lifetime and was much happier to just watch his two babies sleep.

Georgia stirred in her sleep. Sandy became aware and was afraid she was going to have another fit. She didn't but she did keep shifting. She called out "Dad! Dad! Dad!" and he realised she was having a nightmare. He gently slipped away from Kirsten and went over to his daughter.

When Sandy wrapped his arm around his daughter's shoulder, she relaxed and went back to pleasant dreams. Sandy smiled but then Kristen started to moan in her sleep.

"No, no, no Sandy, no…" A tear fell down her cheek. "no…"

Sandy carefully slipped away from Georgia and went over to Kirsten. He scooped her up and held her to his body. "Shhh baby…shhh…"Kirsten stopped crying and cuddled closer to Sandy, and he reacted by holding her closer. She buried her face into his chest, still asleep.

Sandy looked over to Georgia and then back down at Kirsten. He laughed to himself. He carried Kirsten over to Georgia's bed and lay down between them. That night he watched his two favourite ladies sleep dreamlessly in his arms.

-----------------------------------------

_Kirsten stood on the beach. A calm warm breeze blew stands of her hair across her face. She listened to the relaxing sound of the peaceful water as the surf hit the sand. She opened her eyes. The water was clear. Sunlight sparkled against its ripples but nothing was in it. _

_She then felt familiar arms wrap around her waist. She smiled and turned around. Sandy stood in front of her with the beautiful red rose in his hands. She took the rose from him. "I am never far away." He told her. _

Kirsten fluttered her eyes open as she woke from her dreams. She smiled when she saw her hand rested over her husband's chest with his arm linked over hers. "Morning beautiful." She heard a familiar voice whisper. How wonderful it was to hear those words.

Kirsten looked up at Sandy with a glowing expression. "Morning baby." She said.

Sandy brushed a strand of hair off Kirsten's face. Kirsten was lost in Sandy's eyes; she wanted to make sure she wasn't still dreaming. Then she realised something. "Sandy, why are we in our daughter's bed? And where is she?"

"She's at school. The boys took her in 5 minutes ago."

Kirsten shifted herself up onto her elbow. "But she had a fit during the night; she should at least lie in."

Sandy laughed. "She did. It's 11:30."

Kirsten raised her eyebrows. "_11:30!" _She gasped."I haven't slept this late since college. Mind you, I haven't slept at all in the last 2 weeks."

"Well I'm home now so we can stay in bed and sleep all day if that's what you want."

Kirsten pouted. "As appealing as that sounds-" Kirsten started but was cut off when Sandy forced his lips on hers and kissed her passionately. They broke apart and Kirsten panted. "Mmm…suddenly I can't remember the end of that sentence."

Sandy grinned and kissed her again. He sat up on his knees, pulling Kirsten up with him and they never broke apart. As the heat rose he began to slide his hands under Kirsten's top but she slapped him and pulled away. "Sandy! We can't have" She whispered "_sex_" even though no one was around. As though even saying the word in her daughter's room was the devil's own luck. "in our daughter's bed!"

Sandy grinned slyly. "No!" Kirsten screamed. "Not in the bedroom, full stop! It's emotionally scaring even to think about."

Sandy rolled his eyes. Kirsten raised her eyebrows. "Well how would you feel if my dad and Julie had sex in_ our_ bed?"

Sandy cringed and covered his eyes with his hands. "Ah! Ok! Got it! EW! Emotionally scaring, yes. Right! Oh god, images!"

Kirsten laughed. Then she took Sandy's hands away from his face. "But uh we still need to get you clean of that hospital smell."

Sandy grinned. "Maybe I could ask for your assistance with those sensitive spots." Kirsten laughed as Sandy carried her into the shower.

--------------------

After Georgia signed in late in Dr Kim's office, it was just coming up for noon: the end of a period so she went looking for Braden because she knew he would be coming out of P.E theory. The bell rang as she was coming down the corridor and he was coming out of class. She yelled his name and started running up to him.

He turned around and caught her as ran into him and hooked leant on his shoulders and she jumped up and down. "My dad woke up! My dad woke up!"

Braden smiled. "Hey, that's great!"

"You wanna come back to mine after school today? You can meet my dad…and my mum too." She smiled giggling.

"Uh, sure great. Will that be ok?"

"Yeah! Of course!" Georgia said.

They started to walk down the corridor together to their next class. "So what are your parents like? Are they strict or cool?"

Georgia grinned. "They're very cool. But if you can't keep your eyes or hands off me, my dad will remove them."

Braden's eyes widened. "I'm kidding!" Georgia laughed.

-----

Summer frustratedly looked out the window. "Where is he!"

Marissa sipped on her milkshake. "He's only two minutes late Sum."

"He said they'd be here at twelve."

"They?" Marissa questioned and Summer turned around with a guilty look on her face. "Ryan's coming!"

"Sorry Coop." She said.

Marissa sighed. "You know we didn't end things well!"

"Yes, exactly, you guys totally have to make up. Cohen and I can't deal with this dark cloud hovering over our heads."

"And you think Ryan and I are that cloud? It's not that boy in Junior that you kissed and don't even remember his_ name_?" Marissa emphasised.

"Who's name?" Seth asked walking in behind her.

"Uh Marissa's Sociology teacher." Summer stated with an innocent smile.

"You take sociology?" Ryan queried.

"Crash course." Marissa covered.

Things fell silent in the four. Seth nodded feeling the awkwardness. "Ah Marissa I didn't know you were going to be here. What a coincidence." He said unconvincingly. "Yeah…uh Ryan, come with me to order?"

They boys went to the counter. "That's very sly of you and Summer trying to set us up."

"Wha-Wh? There-there's no 'setting up'. No, no it's merely a uh a prearranged gathering of a couple of couples." Seth coughed. "Strawberry sundae please."

"Black coffee. That's fine but Marissa and I aren't a couple anymore. Or did you forget that part of the summer."

"I hear you buddy, I hear you but…the summer has past, you know, we've all grown up a little. Perhaps its time to pick up the scattered pieces." Ryan rolled his eyes.

----

Sandy carried Kirsten into the kitchen as she laughed and he sat down on one of the kitchen island chair with her on his lap. "I like having you carry me around all day." Kirsten said with a smile. "Oh!" She grabbed the phone in front of her. "I should call the hospital; tell them Georgia had a fit last night."

Just then Georgia walked in. "Hey." She said.

"Hi princess." Sandy said. "How you feeling?"

"I'm fine.2 Georgia said. Kirsten smiled and hung up. "You feeling ok sweetie?"

"Yes, I'm fine mum." Then Braden walked in behind her.

"Mum, Dad, this is Braden. Braden my mum and dad." Georgia introduced.

Braden smiled. "Mr and Mrs Cohen."

"Please, Kirsten." Kirsten smiled sweetly from her husbands lap.

"And Sandy, nice to meet you."

"I'm glad to hear you're feeling better Mr Cohen." Braden said.

Georgia tugged Braden's arm before her dad started to open his mouth and long conversations would start pouring out. "C'mon Braden, I'll show you my room." And with that they both went upstairs. "You know you don't have to suck up to my parents like that." She said to him on the way up.

"Well he seems like a nice kid." Sandy said.

Kirsten smiled. "Yeah he does." She clapped her hands. "So, you want to carry me into the family room. Seth tells me the new Starship Troopers is good." Kirsten said laughing.

"Wait, wait honey, first I need to talk to you about something that I really don't think I can put off any longer." Sandy said kind-heartedly.

Kirsten turned herself sideways further to face Sandy. "Ok what is it?"

"Your legs." Sandy said. Kirsten took a small deep breathe; she saw this finally coming. "You haven't talked to me about it." He started.

Kristen shrugged slightly "Well I get the best parking spaces." Sandy forced a baby smile while Kirsten wiped off hers. "I was just so happy to have you back I kinda forgot all about it." She said.

Sandy smiled then gave her a compassionate look. "It's a huge life adjustment hunny…" He said, stroking a loose strand of hair off her face. "…I want you to know that you aren't going to have to 'adjust' by yourself." Kirsten smiled and nodded. "I know and you're right it is huge. And it's been terribly difficult to try and get used to not walking or standing up to get a book off the shelf. And it's wearisome but I'm not gonna keep questioning why it happened to me. I just want to concentrate on getting better and spending time with you and the boys and Georgia."

"Is there anything I can do?" Sandy asked.

Kristen lifted her head with a spring. "There is actually."

---------------------

"Alexis and Emily are going to be here soon so you want to help me out?" Georgia said as she led Braden away from her bedroom down the corridor.

"Who?"

"I told you about the little girls who I look after every now and again."

Braden smiled. "Oh yeah. I remember now. That'd be cool, yeah I'll stay."

Georgia laughed as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "Ok, I'll just get us drinks."

Georgia went into the kitchen. As she went for the fridge she looked out the window and saw her mum and dad in the pool together. She grinned as she saw Sandy was helping Kirsten to swim.

"Ok now again." Sandy said to Kirsten as he swam slightly away from her but always looking at her. Kirsten grinned then slowly managed to swim to Sandy. When she reached him Sandy gave her a kiss as her reward. "Good." Sandy said. "Now if you swim a whole breadth I may have to reward you with a massage."

Kirsten raised her eyebrow. "What if I swim a whole length?" She asked slyly.

"Then…" He let his hands fall to her lower back. "then we'll see where the massage leads us."

Georgia smiled. "Kisses are better than cookies and milkshake." Georgia grabbed two cans of Coke and went back into the living room to Braden. "Hey you can switch on some TV cos I thought that…" She saw that Braden was already watching the news. The story being reported was about the search for Michael Hawk and the lack of the state's success. "…the news would be fun…" She trailed off sarcastically.

She walked up to him. "What'ya doin Braden?" She asked as he went through a file on the coffee table and watched the news.

"What's this?" He asked. "Sorry, it was open."

"That's ok." Georgia said. She sat down on the couch. "It's just a bunch of newspaper articles and info my mum found out about Michael Hawk."

Braden turned to her. "Michael Hawk?"

"Yeah…the guy who planned the bombing in Publix. Well one of the guys anyway. No such luck in finding him though. I think the feds pretty much suck at that."

Braden was staring into space. "Braden?" Georgia caught his attention.

He shook his head. "Sorry I uh…gotta go." He said standing up.

"But I thought you were going to help me look after the girls?" Georgia asked.

"I uh just remembered I have to uh…do something." He said agitated.

Georgia stood up and followed him to the door. "Oh ok. I'll see you tomorrow." She said with a smile. Braden half smiled at her ten ran out the house. Georgia frowned as she shut the door behind her. She shrugged to herself. "Humph…men."

--------------------------------------

This chapter will be continued…I just thought it was gonna be too long plus I'm taking a while to update at the moment so I am going to break this down.

Thanks for all your reviews please continue!

And a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! To everyone if I don't manage to say it to you all before Sunday. I love you guys!

Kiki xoxo


	12. The Parents' Worst Nightmare

The Parents' Worst Nightmare.

"Georgia! Turn it down!" Georgia sighed and turned the volume on her itunes down slightly. "What was that noise you were listening to?" Sandy asked.

"SOAD." She answered.

"Who?" Sandy asked again confused.

"System of a Down." Georgia spelled out. "Dad you're so…"

"Whatever happened to good music?"

"The 21st century happened." Sandy rolled his eyes.

"Hey." Ryan popped his head into Georgia's room. "Alright BYOB." Georgia looked at her dad and grinned while he rolled his eyes again.

"Ryan, have you made plans tonight?" Sandy asked him

"Well uh." Ryan started.

Sandy put his hand on Ryan's shoulder. "Cancel them. I need you and Seth to watch Georgia tonight."

"Hey! I don't need a babysitter!" Georgia yelled slamming her hands on her bed.

Sandy put his hand up to her as if to say 'talk to the hand…' Georgia humphed crossing her arms.

"I'm taking Kirsten out for a meal. You can bring the girls round, I'll give you money for food, do whatever you like as long as you are all in the house." Ryan nodded then left. Georgia just about turned her music up again when Sandy turned it off.

"I was listening to that." Georgia frowned.

"I need to talk to you." Sandy said to Georgia sitting beside her on the bed. Georgia listened up because he sounded serious. "Ok." She said.

"I need you to tell me how your mom was while I wasn't around. She's looking very frail and her skin is awfully white. I'm just worried she's ill or that she's in pain."

Georgia tilted her head at Sandy. "Dad her heart broke when we had to leave the hospital without you." Georgia said. "I've never seen her in so much pain…but you're back now and I'm sure everything will be fine." She ended with a sweet smile.

Sandy sat and thought for a moment. Georgia wondered what he was thinking. After a minute Georgia sighed and spoke up. "She didn't eat." She stated and Sandy turned to her. "A whole lot anyway. I don't think she could, she was so miserable. And she never slept. She went back to work a few times but I think it was too much. The physio wasn't going well either. Everything was just going down-downhill." Georgia looked at her clasped hands in silence for a moment. "If you hadn't woken up the other day I think mum may have given up completely."

Sandy asked Georgia quietly. "Do you mean hurt herself?"

Georgia was about to answer when it hit her that Kirsten almost had. She remembered that her mum wanted to drink. She didn't know how much her mum had planned on drinking if she had found some alcohol. Perhaps just a small glass to drown her sorrows and help her relax but Georgia doubted that with the situation the way it was and Kirsten's history.

"I don't know." Georgia said eventually. Something inside told her that she shouldn't tell her dad about that night. She felt like she was laying a lot on her mum. She had been through enough already; she didn't need dreading thoughts about returning to Suriak.

--------------------------

After Sandy and Kirsten left, Georgia went into Seth's room while he was listening to 'That's what friends are for' sulking.

"What are you listening to?" Georgia asked.

"That's what friends are for." Seth said emotionlessly.

"It's got to be the most uberly cheesy 80s song I've ever heard. What happened, you used to have taste?"

"Summer happened." He sat up. "I hate her. Well I don't hate her I love her. This is all my fault really. If I hadn't been so smart and gone to a different college than Summer I wouldn't have 'fallen' on another girl's lips."

"Seth I know the idea of telling Summer is scary but believe me when you start hiding things that's when the trouble starts."

Seth frowned at Georgia. "You sound way too much like dad for your own good."  
Georgia smiled. "It's not so bad. So you want pizza, I think Ryan's ordering?"

"Yeah and get pepperoni, Summer likes pepperoni. Or does that look suspicious? Getting her the pizza topping I know she likes? No, no just get plain." Set rambled on. Georgia started laughing and left him by himself.

------------------------

Georgia went into her room and signed into MSN, talking to her friends not only in the OC but in Scotland too. After a few minutes she got a pop up that someone added her. She didn't recognise the address or the screen name but she added the person anyway.

"Hey." She said. "Who's this?"

"Is this Georgia?"

Georgia paused. "Yeah…who's this?"

"Mike."

"Oh, hey do you go to Harbour?"

"No my brother does."

"Cool stuff. How old are you?"

"Older than you." Mike said.

"And how would you know?" Georgia asked suspicious.

"You're a Cohen right?"

Georgia put up a frowning emoticon. "…how did you get my addy?"

"So you are Georgia Cohen."

"Who did you say you're brother was?"

"I didn't."

Georgia decided she didn't like the sound of the guy she was talking to so she blocked him. A little freaked out, she looked out of her bedroom window but saw nothing. She knew she was being silly.

------------------------

At The Arches Sandy and Kirsten were having a perfect romantic night out; the food was great, they were talking and laughing non-stop and always looking admirably into each others' eyes. It was like they were back in college again and just starting their relationship.

However Kirsten only had one thing on her mind the whole evening. She waited and waited for the right moment to tell Sandy. Then, while she was watching him eat his dessert after feeding her hers, she realised she could tell Sandy anything and there wasn't a right or wrong time. So she smiled softly at him and took his hand in hers.

"Sandy I need to tell you something…about me and when you weren't here." She held onto his hands tightly. "I almost relapsed one night." Sandy was speechless. He could see that Kirsten had not been taking care of herself but he still did not expect her to say that. "Uh…"

"I didn't drink." Kirsten convinced him. "I just…everything – I seemed to be falling into this black hole I couldn't get out of. I know there's no excuse and I only have myself to blame. I've Georgia to thank for making me see straight."

"Georgia?" Sandy repeated. _She knew about this and she didn't say anything?_ Sandy questioned himself.

Kirsten took a drink of her water. "Yeah. She was there the whole night; Stayed with me, made sure I was ok." Kirsten smiled. "We have an amazing daughter Sandy; she's so smart. She knew exactly what to do. I don't know how she got it so right."

Sandy frowned. _Why didn't she tell me? _"Yeah…smart…" Sandy repeated.

----------------------------

"Cohen…I have to tell you something…" Summer geared herself up to say after spending an hour in her boyfriend's bedroom. "When I was at college-"

"I kissed another girl." Seth announced standing up.

Summer jumped up. "What!" She grabbed a pillow and started beating him with it. "You kissed another girl! Oh my god! Cohen! Do you know how horrible that is! That hurts! Seth Cohen I hate you!" Seth grabbed the pillow out of Summer's hands.

"I know Summer I'm so sorry. I hate myself too. It meant nothing. I was just really drunk but nothing happened, ok? As soon as I did it I pushed her away because I realised I didn't really want to hurt you. Cause I love you Summer. And I really want to make us work. Even if we're apart. We can work harder. Please?"

As he spoke Summer realised she was just as bad as him and that she also wanted them to work as bad as he did. Summer sat on the edge of Seth's bed and pulled him down beside her. "No it's ok. I kissed someone too."

"You kissed someone?" Seth asked. "I guess we're just as bad as each other."

"You remember before you left we promised each other we would do whatever we had to do to make us work but…it's not working is it?"

"Well maybe there are things we can do to change that." Seth said optimistically. "I know I could visit more often…Ryan and I can drive down."

"I can call between classes…"

"We can always meet up here…I know my mum and dad would like to see us."

"At Chrismukkah you can with my dad and I skiing in Aspen."

Seth raised his eyebrows. "Ok?"

Summer smiled and rubbed his nose. "Yes Cohen, we're ok." She said then kissing him.

------------

Georgia sat in her room looking around for something to do. Couldn't go on msn; she was too creeped out by 'Mike', she couldn't call Braden because he was acting strange so she thought she should give him space, she couldn't call any of her friends in Scotland because they would all be sleeping and she wasn't allowed to leave the house. She felt like exploring. Georgia realised she had never been into the attack in her house in the plus year she had lived there.

So she went up to the attack. She had a look around. It was a pretty big attack. She saw a lot around her; many of Seth's old toys, a lot of video games and videos and many Chrismukkah décor. She followed the dimming light to the back of the attack where there were many crates. Firstly there were photo albums and loose pictures. Georgia had seen them all before so she looked further. A box marked "Seth's Schoolwork." Georgia sat down and had a quick glimpse through. Several projects he did over the years. She laughed at some of the stuff her wrote. "Very dorky Seth." She smirked.

She looked where she had put a project on DNA from the 4th grade and found a more interesting box; a box full of home videos. She read over the titles smiling. _'Seth's 1st Birthday', 'Seth's first steps', 'Seth's without stabilisers', 'Disneyland 1992', Chrismukkah 1995'._ There were more underneath. She decided to take the crate downstairs and choose some to watch.

She finally got down to her bedroom when she realised she didn't have a video player so she had to go into Sandy and Kirsten's room to watch the tapes.

As she looked for her first choice she found to distinguishing ones that made her smile. The words 'Our Wedding' and 'The Birth of Seth' were written in the handwriting of a young twenty-something Kirsten on separate tapes. Georgia picked these two to watch.

---------------

"_Excuse me man, excuse me." Sandy said trying to get the male nurse out of his way. "We're having a baby here."_

"_I know that's why I'm in here." The male nurse said. _

_Sandy frowned at him. "What are you a pervert or something?" _

_A female nurse corrected Sandy. "This is Mr Gregory, he's the midwife."_

"_He's a dude!" Sandy yelled. _

"_I'm a fully trained midwife Mr Cohen. Now can you please, move out of my way?" _

_A tired, hot and sweaty Kirsten sighed. "Just let him do his job Sandy."_

_Sandy gave an evil glare to Mr Gregory. "No, he's a dude!"_

_Kirsten screamed at Sandy. "I don't care if he's a trained monkey, get outta his way!" _

"_Alright, alright." Sandy said. He pointed his finger at the midwife and raised his eyebrows intimidating him. "But you just watch it, alright?" _

Georgia laughed as she watched the video of Seth being born. The video cut through different times. Georgia guessed it skipped at least an hour or two forward. Her mum had said that Seth was breech and not an easy birth. Unlike herself who just 'slid out'.

_Kirsten took a deep breath in through a gas mask. She handed it back to one of the nurses. "How much longer is he going to be?" Kirsten asked exhausted. Sandy rubbed her back comfortingly. "It's alright baby, you're doing great. You're doing amazing. He'll take as long as he needs to. He just wants to get everything right; he's a perfectionist. Just like his daddy." _

_Kirsten smiled. Anytime now Sandy was going to be a daddy and she was going to be a mummy and they were going to be happier than she ever could have imagined. _

"_Mother nature will take its course Mrs Cohen." Mr Gregory said. "When the baby is ready to come into the world, he'll let us know." Just then, Kirsten screamed in agony through a contraction. _

_Sandy held Kirsten's hand. "This is it baby. You're doing great. Just remember everything you learned in prenatal class." _

_Kirsten screamed in pain again. "You're never coming near me again Sandy Cohen!" She yelled out. _

"_Guess giving birth isn't all it's cracked up to be is it?" Sandy joked with one of the nurses._

Georgia laughed.

"_Here we go Kirsten; big pushes now, come on." The midwife told her. Kirsten did squeezing Sandy's hand very tightly. "Good, good, now you're going to have to push harder now Kirsten to get the shoulders out."_

_Kirsten whimpered and shook her head. "No, no, I can't, Sandy…" Sandy kissed her hand and her forehead. "Yes you can, baby, yes you can. Just one big push and it'll all be over and we'll have a beautiful baby to cherish and love for the rest of our lives." He smiled sweetly. "Does that sound like an ok plan?" _

_Kirsten smiled and nodded sitting up again. "Yes."_

"_Good, good baby. You can do it I know you can." He kissed Kirsten's temple._

_Kirsten gave one strained long push and then finally sighed and fell back into the bed. "He's here. Well done Kirsten." The female nurse said and Kirsten smiled. She then looked over to Sandy and started crying. Sandy slid on the bed beside her and wrapped his arm around her. "Well done baby. I'm so proud of you." Kirsten looked around for her new baby. _

_After a minute the nurses handed a newborn Seth to Kirsten. Sandy and Kirsten both stared at him in awe._

"_It's a baby Kirsten." Sandy said._

_Kirsten laughed. "Yes, Sandy, I was wondering what that bump was."_

"_We've got ourselves a beautiful baby Kirsten." Sandy frowned. "What is it?"_

_Kristen smiled and pulled back the wee blanket their tiny child was wrapped in to see what gender it was. She smiled and nodded, getting all teary again. "A boy." _

"_Well he's not gonna be afraid to change in the showers, is he?" Sandy grinned._

Georgia cringed and choked on her juice, spraying it out. "Ugh…TMI!"

_Kirsten took Sandy's hand and held it above their little baby boy. Sandy took a moment and stroked his tiny chubby arms. Then unexpectedly the little guy wrapped his whole hand around Sandy's Wedding finger, above his ring. Sandy grinned. "He's perfect Kristen. He's got perfect fingers and perfect toes. Only could have come out of you." _

_Kirsten grinned. "No yelling…" She whispered. "But he still needs a name."_

_Sandy paused and thought. "What about Seth?" _

_Kirsten thought. "Seth? Seth. Seth Cohen." She looked down at Baby Seth. "Little Seth Cohen." She grinned. "That's perfect. Hi Seth." Seth reached his tiny arms up to his mummy. "Yeah that's you. You're our little Seth Cohen." _

"_You're such a lovely little boy, you are yes you are." Sandy rambled on to his son. "You're a lucky little boy; you've got two parents who think you are the most precious thing in the whole wide world. Yes you are. And maybe one you'll have a little brother to play with too."_

_Kirsten opened her mouth. "A little **sister**." She smiled and raised her eyebrows. "I'm not going to have three men in the house and then just little me by myself."_

"_Not right now…but a miniature you… maybe one day, eh?" Sandy asked smiling._

_Kirsten gave him a loving smile. "We'll see…" They both then went back to looking at young Seth. _

Georgia smiled. "We'll see." She repeated.She rewound the tape and looked through the box deciding what one to watch next. She then heard some footsteps and her mum giggling as Kirsten and Sandy came up to their bedroom. Georgia jumped up. "I'm in here!" She yelled. "Stop whatever you're doing please!" She shut her eyes tightly as Sandy and Kirsten came in.

"Hey sweetie", Kirsten said who was being carried by Sandy. He put her down on the bed. "What are you doing?" She then looked at the TV screen. "Is that Seth being born?" She got excited. "Oh press play; I haven't seen this in ages! Sandy, we haven't watched these tapes in ages!"

"Dad you were so funny when Seth was being born." Georgia said giggling.

Kirsten rolled her eyes. "Ugh god, don't remind me!" She said taking off her shrug.

"I didn't bug you during childbirth!" Sandy said.

"No, but you bugged me during conception." Kirsten said and Georgia laughed. "Well night, night." She said and kissed her mum's cheek. "Night dad."

Sandy followed Georgia out and shut the bedroom doors behind him. "Hey, I wanna talk to you."

Georgia turned around as she walked. "About what?"

Sandy swerved in front of Georgia. "_You _didn't tell me your mum almost relapsed one night." He accused her angrily. Georgia looked up at him with a guilty look on her face. "Why not?"

Georgia looked away. "Because I didn't want you to get mad at her."

"Princess, I love your mom very much. I know she was going through a tough time. I wouldn't get mad at her, that wouldn't make anything easier for anyone; you know all I would want to do is help her."

"Well nothing happened; she didn't drink any alcohol." Georgia said walking past Sandy but her grabbed her arm and spun her around. "That's not the point Georgia. You know it's a big deal! If she did relapse she would probably have to-"

"Go back to rehab; yes I know!" Georgia screamed.

"Shh!" Sandy said pulling Georgia into the living room. "Keep your voice down."

"Sorry, I just don't want mum to go back."

Sandy softened his voice. "Well no one does, _especially_ your mom." Sandy sighed. "Just don't lie to me again, ok?"

Georgia half smiled. "Yeah, I'm sorry." She paused. "Can I go?" Sandy nodded and sighed as he watched he go up the stairs.

-------------------

"You alright honey?" Kirsten asked when Sandy came back in the room.

Sandy sighed, shutting the bedroom door behind him. "Yeah just…Ok I asked Georgia about how you were when I wasn't around."

"What?" Kirsten asked.

"She didn't tell me about the night you almost relapsed-"

"Sandy, you should have asked me. Don't you understand how put on the spot Georgia must have felt? Of course she didn't tell you about that night that's _my_ place. If she told you before I did wouldn't you have thought I was trying to hide it from you?"

Kirsten looked at Sandy and then gave him a reassuring look. "Sit down." He sat down on their bed beside her. "I would never lie to you honey, ok? I understand why you asked Georgia, I do, and I respect that but please don't be angry at her for not telling you. She didn't mean any harm."

Sandy smiled and nodded. "I know."

Kirsten leaned in and kissed Sandy briefly. "I love you, you know that?"

Sandy rubbed his nose with Kirsten's. "Mmm…" He grinned. "Perhaps you'll have to remind me."

-----------------

"Hey Braden it's me." Georgia said as she poured herself some Tropicana and waited for her bagel to toast the nest morning. "You ok? You left in a hurry yesterday."

"Uh yeah I'm cool. Thanks." Braden said down the phone.

"I was wondering if it's cool if I still come round to your house today."

"Actually I'd rather you didn't just uh…busy around here."

"Oh uh ok." Georgia frowned. "Well do you want to go to the skate park? I've almost got the hang of that half pipe. We could meet Elle and Ash and then-"

"I can't Georgia, ok? I gotta go. And don't come round. Bye." And with that Braden hung up.

Georgia stared at the phone for a second confused. She was pulled out of her questioning trance when her bagel popped up. She jumped and screamed. Ryan and Seth came in from the poolhouse then. "You ok?" Ryan asked.

"Fine." Georgia said smiling.

-----------------------

It was 7:15 and Kirsten grudgingly sat up in the bed and swung herself, starting to get up.

"What are you doing?" Sandy asked opening an eye to watch her.

"Getting Georgia up for school. It's after seven; she'll be late."

"It's Saturday" Sandy told her.

Kirsten paused, finally getting her thoughts together. "Oh that's right cos yesterday was Friday."

"Well done..."Sandy applauded her sarcastically. He laughed. "You don't know the days of the week."

Kirsten lay back down and buried her body under the warm covers. "Oh goody an extra 2 hours of sleep."

Sandy grinned devilishly and rolled on top of Kirsten. "Minus 5 minutes of pure heaven" He said and Kirsten giggled as he planted his lips on hers.

----------

Georgia wasn't going to sit around and wait until Monday to see Braden again and ask him what really was going on.

The doorbell rang and Braden answered it. There was Georgia standing on his porch, waiting to get some answers.

"Look, I thought I told you not to come round here." Braden said.

"You did but I want to know why. What are you hiding?"

"Nothing…I'm not…there's nothing i-in…n-n-nothing."

Georgia raised her eyebrows. "Men are the worst liars. You know that?" She pushed passed him, walking into his house. She looked around. "Wow. Your house is really nice. I don't see what you would want to be hiding."

"Georgia please, just leave. I'm not doing this to hurt you or push you away I just need you to leave. For your own good."

Georgia frowned. "Braden is there somebody here?" She whispered. She turned around accidentally knocking over a photo-frame. "Oh, sorry." She bent down to pick it up. She looked at the photo.

"Give me that." Braden said. Georgia turned away trying to hold onto the photo. "Georgia, give me it!"

Georgia ran away from him upstairs and into his bedroom. She got into his room before him and managed to have a good look at the photo. She saw a face that filled her with fear and anger. "Oh my god…" She said under her breath.

"I told you not to look at it!" Braden said snatching the photo out his hand.

"Is your brother Michael Hawk?" Georgia asked.

"_Step_-brother." He said, obviously not proud. Braden shook his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lie to you and I just hate him so much and I was scared of what he would do to you if he found you here."

"So why haven't you turned him in?"

"Because it would kill my mom…he's family."

"Braden, he murdered 33 people! My dad almost died and my mum is paralysed! How can you be protecting him!" She yelled.

"Wouldn't you do the same for Seth or Ryan?"

"That's different, Ryan or Seth have never murdered people before! They never will."

Braden smashed the photo frame into the ground and the glass shattered everywhere. He started marching around. "Are you scared of him?" Braden glared at Georgia but didn't say anything. Georgia walked over to him slowly. "He's hit you before, hasn't he?"

"Just when I did something to disrespect him." Braden said, like he thought he deserved it.

"You've got to say something to the police. You could be arrested; he's a fugitive, you know? And what about your mum?" Braden started to pay attention. "If he can murder 26 people, what's one more?"

"I can't!" Braden said through gritted teeth. "I'm sorry."

Georgia sighed and on the foot of his bed thinking. Braden eventually sat down beside her. "You gonna tell your mom and dad?"

"I don't know…" Georgia said softly. She turned to him. "If I lie about this I'll be grounded for life but if I do tell them, they may never let me see you again…"

Georgia put her hands on Braden's. "Come on, I'll help you clear up the glass."

-----------

"So boys how's college?" Sandy asked at dinner.

"Good." They both answered mutually.

"We did this awesome experiment in chemistry the other day; we got to see ." Seth said grinning.

"Doesn't that give off a lot of radiation Seth?" Kirsten asked.

"Yeah we wear led vests." He answered.

"Also used incase Superman wants to peek at your knickers." Georgia joked.

"I'm not wearing any." Sandy winked and the kids all groaned.

"But Seth doesn't like chemistry anymore." Ryan added.

"Why?"

"Cos his lab partner is gay and he thinks he is 'in love' with him." Ryan said mockingly.

"Hey, you've seen the way he watches me when I add chlorine to metals." Seth said.

"Gay people are no different to any other; you shouldn't have a problem with this kid Seth." Kirsten said authoritively. "My 3rd cousin Rona is gay." Kirsten added.

"What?" Sandy said.

"You knew that." Kirsten told Sandy.

"I most certainly did not!" Sandy defended himself.

"Why do you think she never got married?" Kirsten asked.

"Cos she looks like a pit-bull." Sandy said. Kirsten frowned at him but he and the kids laughed.

As Georgia helped to clean up dinner, she listened to Sandy and Kirsten ramble on about some party they went to many, many years ago.

"Well I wanted to have my hair nice for the party." Kirsten said. "It was fancy dress Sandy."

"It wasn't just 'nice' Kirsten, it was big." Sandy said and Georgia grinned. The doorbell rang and Georgia walked out of the kitchen to get it.

"You said I looked beautiful." Kirsten said raising her eyebrows.

"What can I say? I was young, in love and the rest of you looked beautiful." Sandy said with a cheeky smile.

Kirsten waited then smiled "You never have been a good liar."

"Pass me the plates?" Sandy asked grinning. Kirsten did. "Georgia!" She called out. "Who was at the door?" There was along pause with no answer. Ryan and Seth walked in from the poolhouse. "Georgia?" Sandy yelled. They all frowned at each other when there was complete silence. Then there was the sound of car tyres screeching. Ryan sprinted outside.

"Georgia? Georgia? Georgia!" He called out, looking all around him for any sign of his baby sister. All he saw was a black 'TV licence' van speeding out of the Cohen's drive.

"Oh my god! He took her!" A neighbour was screaming.

Ryan chased after the van down the street but he didn't run fast enough to keep up with the speeding van. When the back of the car was out of sight he stopped in shock.

Georgia had just been stolen from them.

---------

**Nice long update for you? Sorry it's been a while and I don't know how long it will be until I next update. What with New Year and all. SO thank you so much for all your reviews and taking time over Christmas. Hope you had a great one! **

**Please tell me what you think :) **


	13. Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air

LEGEND; 1 HOUR MISSING

The entrance to the Cohen drive was cornered off with police tape. The house and driveway was flooded with police officers, FBI officers and crime scene investigators.

Anne Rockwell was informing one of her colleagues, Dave about Georgia, notes which she read off a notepad, walking into the house. "Georgia McRoberts, 15. Lives with her mum and dad; Sandy and Kirsten Cohen. Two brothers are visiting from college. The family was all inside when she was snatched so they didn't see anything. The only person who did was Bonnie Hartley she lives next door."

"Only one witness?" Dave questioned.

"Yup and we got lucky with Mrs High Maintenance over there." Anne said sarcastically. "Well she said a male assailant forced her into the car parked outside their driveway and drove away."

Anne and Dave walked into the kitchen where Sandy, Kirsten, Seth and Ryan were all being held unwillingly. Kirsten was sitting on top of the kitchen island leaning on Sandy's shoulder but she never stayed that way for long as Sandy kept moving around, asking different officers the same questions. They all looked to Anne and Dave when they came in. Another investigator, Dan, joined them.

"Got an APB on the van and the plate; A Merc Benz Sprinter." He stated tapping his notepad with his pen.

"Good engine." Ryan said crossing his arms. "They can go fast?"

"Very." Dan said. "If he's going at max they could be a hundred miles from here by now."

"Fast car, you want a fast road. Odds are, head straight for the freeway." Ryan said, thinking logically…or like a thief.

"Helicopters are on it, son." Anne said. "We set up a concentric search flaring inward from several exits."

"Is there anything we can do?" Kirsten asked anxiously.

"No ma'am, I'm sorry." Dave told her. "We'll need statements from you all, a few questions."

"Of course." Kirsten said.

"Have you gone to the media?" Sandy questioned them authoritively.

"Yes sir. On the news in all of California now. Word of her abduction have also been put on the freeway information boards."

"What about a cell phone? Does she have one on her?" Dave asked.

"No." Seth answered dully.

"That unfortunately means we can't track her. We have at least one witness however. Perhaps that means our luck will change."

------

LEGEND; 1.5 HOURS MISSING

As Ryan was interviewed in the kitchen he could see camera crews set up their equipment in the Cohen driveway and reporters snapping photos and yelling out questions.

"Did you get a look at the assailant?" Dan asked him.

"Uh no. By the time I got outside around the car was already driving off."

"Did anything seem strange that evening? Did you notice anything or anyone out of the ordinary?"

"I didn't see anyone." Ryan started. "You know, we were just ... it was a normal day. Georgia has never done anything wrong. How could this happen?"

"I know her mum from cardiobar. I haven't seen her in a while, since you know she was in the bombing at a supermarket. So I can't be sure what is exactly going on in her life." Bonnie told Anne.

"Yes but what about the assailant? Did you get a good look at him?"

"No sorry." Bonnie said.

Bonnie continued. "I was on my way for an early yogalates class when I heard a scream. They were struggling. He had her by the arm and I just screamed."

"And that's when she screamed?" Anne asked, between taking notes and looking at Bonnie.

Bonnie shook her head. "Um, no. It wasn't until he was pushing her into the car."

-------------

LEGEND; 4 HOURS MISSING

"So I have three varieties on our suspect." Anne said down at the missing person's headquarters, files open in front of her with Dave and Dan by her side. "White perhaps not white. Light-haired or thin on top. Tall or average height."

Dan shook his head. "You gotta love eyewitnesses."

"Tell me about the witness who knew the victim. Bonnie." Dave said.

"Well she told me that Georgia recognized the assailant."

"_Maybe_ recognized; she didn't scream right away. And he most likely just charmed that out of her she is a 15 year old girl." Dan corrected her.

"However a little suspicious, don't you agree?" Dave said.

------------

LEGEND; 5 HOURS MISSING

The doorbell rang and Sandy answered it, Kirsten in her chair behind him. "Do you have news?" He asked.

"The police found the van." Dan said.

"Where?"

"In the middle of an access road. Crop fields."

_THE ACCESS ROAD; 4:15am. The patrol captain stood next to a police van and barked out instructions to the other officers assisting the search for Georgia. Officers were given out information sheets and a recent picture of Georgia which had also been handed out to press. The access road was crawling with officers who would be used to look for Georgia._

"_She's fifteen years old!" The patrol captain shouted out. "She is wearing a light blue vest top and baggy jeans! If she managed to get away she could be three kilometres in either direction. Divide up. Good luck."_

_The road quickly emptied as officers ran off in the dark to look for Georgia. A CSI detective, Connley Ray who stopped in line with the abandoned van – 20 or so metres away- thought for a moment, then began to walk down the centre of the road by himself._

_He looked on the ground and saw something glistening on the dirt road right beside the backseat passenger seat of the ditched van. He bent to look at what appeared to be a necklace. He saw a silver heart on the thin chain with 'hope' engraved on it. _

_He realised that the necklace can't have been dropped, it had to have been placed in the position it was; pointing to the side, in the trees. "Georgia you clever girl." He mumbled to himself. Connley Ray began to walk alone done the well-trodden path between the trees_. _"Now what are you trying to show me?"_

'_Why would he go along here?' Detective Ray questioned himself. He walked further down. He found a patch of footprints and wet soil hidden behind a tree. He shined his torch on it. "Urine." He said out loud. "He stopped to take a leak before they switched cars." _

_Detective Ray questioned himself again. 'So why didn't she run?' He judged the distance between the van and where the kidnapper stood. He thought that Georgia would have been easily unseen and could have had the chance to run. Unless there was someone else in the car with her._

"Evidence showed the kidnapper and Georgia switched to a smaller car after dumping the van. It also appears there were two men in the van." Dan followed up.

Kirsten closed her eyes trying to prevent her mind thinking what the kidnappers were doing to their daughter. "Do you know who these people are yet?"

"We've got DNA from one of the men, it's in the labs right now, should be matched by the hour."

-----------------

LEGEND; 5.5 HOURS MISSING

"Connley!" A lab worker called out at the crime scene investigation headquarters. Connley Ray turned around and saw the lab worker.

"Keith." He said. "Walk with me."

"I got the urine results back and it matches to a Michael Hawk." Connley stopped. "Isn't that the guy wanted for planning that bombing in a Publix that happened a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah…why?" Keith asked.

"Georgia was in that Publix at the time." Connley paused. "Keith, I believe we just found our motive."

-----------------------

LEGEND; 6 HOURS MISSING

The doorbell rang again and it seemed Sandy and Kirsten got faster at answering the door every time. This time Connley Ray was standing there.

"Mr and Mrs Cohen?"

"Yes may we help you?" Kirsten asked.

"I'm detective Connley Ray I'm a crime scene investigator."

"Do you have news on Georgia?" Sandy asked.

"The DNA we found matched to a Michael Hawk."

Kirsten gasped. "Oh no. The man who bombed the Publix."

"Mm-hmm." Connley nodded. "Now I believe that Georgia was friendly with Braden Jones, am I right?"

"Yes but what does Braden have to do with this?" Sandy asked.

"Hawk is Braden's stepbrother."

Sandy's eyes went wide. "What?" He shouted angrily.

"I think that Georgia knew this and that's why Hawk went after her. He thought she would go to the police so he either wanted to make sure she didn't or wanted revenge because he thought she already had."

There was a knock on Seth's door. Seth sat up on his bed quickly. "Mom?" He asked.

Summer walked in. "Hey Cohen, I got your messages." She sat down close to him on his bed. "Any news?"

"No. You know I don't even understand what anyone would want with Georgia. She's never done anything to hurt anyone. She's a good kid. I swear when they find this guy I'm gonna punch him so hard his nose will fall off. Or I'll get Ryan to do it for me."

Summer put her hands on his knees. "Every police officer in Orange County is out there looking for her. I'm sure they'll find her. They've got to."

Seth nodded but then looked up at her. "What if they don't?"

-------------------------

**Hope you can follow all this peeps. Much more to come :)**

**Hope you had a good new year! Not too many hangovers! **

**Please review and say what you think! I love reading them; good/bad. **


	14. The City Of

The City Of…

LEGEND; 7 HOURS MISSING

The doorbell rang and Sandy answered the door. Braden stood behind; he had been asked to come around. Kirsten had called at 5:45am to say that Georgia was in trouble and she needed his help. However when the door opened Sandy dragged him in by the shirt and threw him down on the couch. "Sandy!" Kirsten screamed.

"Where's Georgia?" Sandy yelled at Braden.

"What?" The boy obviously had no clue. "She's not here?"

Seth came over and prodded Braden in the chest who reacted minimally. "When were you gonna tell us that Michael fucking Hawk is your fucking brother."

"Step-brother!" Braden corrected him.

"Seth, language." Kirsten said orderly.

"Mr Cohen I may be only investigating a crime scene but I can still arrest you for harassment or assault." Connley Ray said, coming out the kitchen with water in his hand walking beside Ryan.

"Where's Georgia?" Braden asked.

"She's been abducted!" Kirsten snapped. "By your _step_-brother!" Sandy put his hand on Kirsten's shoulder, cautioning her back.

"I swear I don't know where Georgia is. I haven't seen her since yesterday."

"What about Hawk?" Connley asked. "When did you last see him?"

Braden hung his head and sighed. "…Yesterday." He answered quietly.

"Does Georgia know he's your step-brother?" Connley asked.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Did Hawk find this out?" Braden nodded again, keeping his head down in his own disappointment.

"You do know that you can be arrested for protecting a fugitive." Connley said.

"He wasn't staying with us." Braden said back.

"Where was he staying?" Summer asked.

"I don't- I don't know really… he didn't really-"

"Where Braden!" Ryan snapped, his arms folded.

Braden sighed. "Some warehouse. It's in the middle of nowhere. Outside LA somewhere."

"Good lad." Connley said. Sandy picked Braden up by the arm. "Now show us where this warehouse is."

----------

LEGEND; 8.5 HOURS MISSING

Michael watched Georgia sit huddled in the corner of the dusty warehouse floor. His partner was outside, changing the registration plate on the stolen BMV. He smiled devilishly. "You seem nervous Georgia."

"Nervous?...No. I'm not nervous." She said strongly. "Why?" She searched his expression. "Should I be?"

Michael laughed. "You've been captured by a guy who managed to kill 33 people and injure many others in a split second. You really think I care what I do to you?"

"You don't scare me." Georgia said spitefully.

"You're not still believing daddy's gonna come and save you, do you?" Michael smirked sarcastically. "Pathetic."

"What's that?" Georgia looked closely at the bottle Michael juggled in his hands. "Chloroform?"

"Should keep your annoying trap shut for a while. Well I say a while; I don't really know the damage this causes. Never knew; we could be lucky and it kills ya." Michael said edging closer to her.

Georgia looked at the door out the corner of her eyes and she ran just before Michael had a hold of her. She ducked under his arms and ran to the door. She tried to open the door but it was locked; as she guessed it would be. Then he came up behind her and tried to punch her but she ducked and he punched the door. "Ahh! Fucking bitch!" He grabbed her wrist as she tried to run past him. He swung her back and held her arms down at her side from behind as he tried to make her drink the open bottle of chloroform. She refused; keeping her mouth tightly shut and shaking her head. She kicked her leg up and hit him between the legs. "Fuck!" He screamed and let her go but also the bottle of chloroform which smashed on the floor.

Just when Georgia thought she was in the clear when Michael grabbed her by the neck and kicked her to the floor.

"No, no, no!" Georgia screamed struggling against him. Michael grabbed her face and held her to the ground where he smashed the bottle. Georgia tried to turn away but she couldn't; his grip was too strong.

She tried not to breathe in but he kept her down and the fumes were rising up. Eventually her fight weakened and she went limp; falling into a deep, deep sleep.

"Michael, we have to go, right now!" His partner said at the sign of police cars and vans approaching in the distance.

-----------------

LEGEND; 8:35 HOURS MISSING

"Michael Hawk! Come out with your hands up! You are surrounded!" Anne called out through a megaphone. After a moment with no one in sight Anne repeated herself but again no one showed themselves.

Dave started to edge into the old warehouse. "You carrying?" He asked Anne.

"No."

"Then get behind me." He said.

He cleared the warehouse. They had already fled. Dave sighed. "I'm tired of this game." He groaned putting his gun back on his belt.

"There's something here!" Connley called out from a room and Anne and Dave ran over.

"What's that?" Anne asked Connley who picked up a small pink object.

"A guitar plectrum." Connley answered.

"Look someone wrote on the wall."

In jagged and shaky handwriting M Hawk S Desdemona had been written by Georgia with her plec which she always carried with her. "Whose names are they?" Anne asked.

"Michael Hawk and S Desdemona must be his partner." Dave said.

Connley smiled to himself, fiddling with the plec in his fingers. "Thanks again Georgia." He whispered.

"What does Desdemona mean anyway?" Dave asked smirking.

Connley bent down and took a photo of the writing on the wall. "Of the devil." He answered.

-----------------

LEGEND: 9 HOURS MISSING

"Did you bring your gun?" Steve asked Michael as they sped away in the car.

"Yes."

"Oh my god I forgot the cuffs."

"Forget the cuffs. We don't need 'em. She's out." Michael said calmly and nudging his head to Georgia in the back who was in a deep imposed sleep.

"But our prints will be-"

"Steve! Calm down, alright. We're fine. We got the girl and she aint goin' anywhere. See this is why you couldn't do this alone." Michael told his partner.

All of a sudden, as they stopped at a crossroads the car started to shake. They looked at each other. "What the hell is that?" They were looking around the front of the car and around the outside. Steve glanced into the back. His eyes went wide. "Uh Mike…"

Michael looked into the back of the car they stole and saw Georgia rapidly shaking. "Oh Jesus! What's she doing?"

"I think she's having a fit…my sister is epileptic."

"Well go. Get in the back with her." Michael said pushing Steve.

"What? No! I don't want to-"

"Steve, now!" Michael yelled shoving him out.

Steve hung over Georgia wobbly as Michael drove off at a speed. "What do I do?"

"I don't know. Your sister is the epileptic one, ass!"

"Michael, her mouth is foaming. Jesus what do we do?"

"Make her stop! People are staring. Shoot her if ya have to!"

----------------------------

"I really thought that was it. I really thought that this nightmare would all be over." Kirsten said numbly as she lay curled up into her husband's chest on the couch.

Sandy stroked Kirsten's hair. "Georgia will be fine hunny." Sandy reassured her. "She _is_ fine. She's a Nichol and a Cohen. That's twice the immortality of a normal kid."

"_She's going to be fine hunny." Sandy reassured Kirsten. "She's fine. She's a Nichol and a Cohen. That's twice the immortality of a normal baby." _

_Kirsten's mind flashed._

"_Why isn't she crying?" Kirsten asked looking up. "What's wrong? Why isn't she crying?" _

_Her mind flashed again. _

"_What's wrong with my baby? Why isn't she breathing? Someone tell me!" Kirsten begged. _

_Kirsten recognised her surroundings; Doctors, nurses, the sickening silence of a delivery room. She heard a voice beside her repeat again. "She's going to be fine hunny. She's fine. She's a Nichol and a Cohen. That's twice the immortality of a normal baby." His voice crackled and jolted. There was another flash._

_Their doctors came in. Kirsten could see herself walk in front of Sandy desperate to hear good news that their baby girl was going to be ok. The doctor whispered. "I'm sorry."_

_As she watched her young self breakdown in front of her she could feel all that pain she felt again. "No, no, no, no, no, no!"_

"No, no, no…" Kirsten mumbled.

Sandy gently shook his wife. "Kirsten. Kirsten, wake up."

Kirsten gasped. "You ok?" He asked her.

"No." She said. "Georgia's not fine Sandy. There's something wrong. I know there is."

-----------------

LEGEND: 10 HOURS MISSING

Georgia stirred as she started to wake up. She rubbed her forehead; her head felt like it was splitting. She moaned and sat up, realising she was in the back of a stationary car. She looked in the front and saw only one man in the passenger seat. She realised she was at a petrol station. Steve hadn't noticed Georgia awaken. She looked out the window for Michael. He was talking to some guy behind the store. She looked around her. The door handle was in her easy reach. There was a main road behind her. If she moved quickly she could run to the road and get some attention. She assumed people were looking for her.

She looked between Michael and Steve one more time then slid her hand onto the handle and gently tried to open it. "Stop now before Michael sees you." Georgia took her hand off the handle as Steve told her. The man never looked forward but Georgia watched him. "Are you going to kill me?" She asked. Steven fidgeted with his hands but never turned around or answered her. "That's what you thinking, isn't it?" She paused.

"Should I kill you?" He asked tilting his head back crookedly.

Georgia lowered her voice. "Are my parents ok?"

"What?" He snapped.

"My parents and my brothers? You haven't hurt them have you?" She asked.

Steve frowned. "No. They're fine."

"Well if it's a choice between me or them, then yes, you should kill me."

Steve turned around and glared at Georgia straight in the eye. Georgia gulped, fearing what he would do. However he did nothing, he just turned back around and faced forward.

"Do you need medication?"

"What?" Georgia asked.

"Prescription. For your epilepsy." Steve said.

"How do you know I have-"

"You had a fit." Steve interrupted her. Georgia could see his hands shaking. She watched him closely. She looked around for places she could leave a mark but she wouldn't be able to open a window without Steve noticing. Just then Michael came back into the car. He sniggered at her, grinning devilishly. He then sped off. She knew they were in LA but she didn't know where they were in LA or where they were headed. If she was lucky the police or her family had tracked her down and were waiting to close in but if she wasn't lucky...she'd never see them again. ---------------------- Thanks for all your reviews! im glad you are liking this. well done Panz for finishing ur fic b4 midnight! PLease continue to R&R xoxo


	15. The Blood Money

The Blood Money

WHITE BOARD TIMELINE;

4:01 VAN FOUND, SWITCHED TO A BMW CONVERTIBLE.

8:05 FLEE FROM ABANDONED WAREHOUSE

LEGEND: 14 HOURS MISSING

"Grace, I'm sorry I know the girls were meant to come around today but…oh you heard? …Well thank you. Yes, I'll let you know. Thank you and sorry." Kirsten said to the woman whose children she and Georgia were meant to be babysitting today. She hung up the phone.

"You want some late lunch?" Sandy asked, getting some sliced chicken and philadelphia out the fridge.

"I'm not hungry." Kirsten said softly.

Sandy turned around and looked at her as he got bread out the breadbin for a sandwich. "You must be hungry; you haven't eaten all day."

"I'm fine thanks." Kirsten said.

Sandy continued to make himself a sandwich. "Kirsten you've got eat. You're as thin enough as it is." Kirsten kept her head down and ignored Sandy's comment; she knew he was entirely right.

Sandy wiped his hands clean then went over to Kirsten and put his hand on her back. "Please honey. Just a sandwich. For me." He said.

He bent down and softly kissed her lips once to show comfort but Kirsten was angered and pushed him off and stood up off her seat. "No Sandy! You can't just kiss me and think you can make everything ok? It won't work like that!"

Sandy tried to interrupt her. "Kirsten…"

"You can't make this better, ok!"

Sandy rose up his hands to her. "Kirsten…"

"You-you you can't kiss me and bring Georgia back!" She yelled.

"Kirsten!" Sandy yelled. He raised his eyebrows. "You're standing."

Kirsten's expression dropped then she looked down below her. She really was standing on her own two feet. She smiled and looked up at Sandy. "I am, am'nt I?"

Kirsten stepped forward once, slowly. She managed to hold herself up. She smiled, proud. She took two steps further quicker but she started to fall. Sandy caught her and smiled. "One step at a time eh?" He said literally.

He got her up into a standing position, his hands supporting her lower back. "Yeah…" Kirsten answered. She looked into his tired eyes for a moment then threw her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry Sandy."

Sandy put is arms around her, accepting her apology. "We'll get her back."

Then one question popped into his mind. _What if we don't?_ Then more questions followed. _How could we cope? How would Kirsten cope? **Would** she cope?_

The phone rang and Sandy went to answer it. "Hello…ok…ok…I'll do that." He hung up and paused watching Kirsten take a bite out of his sandwich and shuffle around on her feet. "Who was that?" Kirsten asked through munches. He didn't answer. "There's no milk. You'll need milk if you want coffee." He said walking out.

"What? Sandy?" She tried to follow him out but could feel her legs shake. She reached for a stool and sat down. "Sandy!" The door slammed.

------------

Kirsten sat feeling useless by the phone in the kitchen and Seth and Ryan were pacing beside her. "I can't do this; I can't just sit here!" Ryan said frustratedly.

The front door opened and closed. "Sandy?" Kirsten called out.

"No, it's me..." Julie said walking in. "Kiki, I'm so sorry. I just heard." She hugged Kirsten who hugged her back.

"Thanks Julie." Kirsten said.

Julie looked around her. "Where's Sandy?" She asked.

"Post office I think." Seth said sighing.

"A guy's daughter's missing and he goes to post a package?" Julie said sarcastically. Then it hit them all.

"Damn it! That's a ransom." Ryan stated realising, already running out of the kitchen. They all followed Ryan quickly, Kirsten being carried by Seth to the car.

Ryan, Julie, Seth and Kirsten rush out of the car into the post office just as Sandy was about to post the parcel he had in his hands. "Sandy, wait!" Ryan shouted. Sandy turned around and he seemed surprised to see them. Even more surprised to see detectives Anne and Dave behind them.

"Sandy…what are you posting?" Kirsten asked cautiously.

"You got a ransom note, didn't you? What are they asking for?" Anne asked accusingly.

"You can't prevent me from paying a ransom. You know that." Sandy said to the detectives.

"Dad if you do this by yourself you'll only put Georgia in more danger." Seth said.

"How can we be certain we'd get her back?" Kirsten asked rhetorically.

Sandy hesitated. "How did you know?" He asked Anne and Dave.

"We followed you." Dave answered.

"Don't post the package Mr Cohen. There might be a way we could help you Georgia back." Anne said.

"How?" Seth asked quickly.

"Wait for the kidnappers to call and arrange to meet instead." Anne said.

"Wait, wait, wait." Kirsten said. "Isn't that putting Sandy in danger?"

"What other choice do we have honey?" Sandy asked desperate. He handed the parcel to Dave.

"How do we do this?" He asked.

-----------------

LEGEND: 17.5 HOURS MISSING

At the missing persons unit Sandy

Sandy's mobile started ringing. Sandy picked it up and checked the caller ID. He recognized the number. "It's him." Sandy said.

"Answer it. Tell him you've got the money and you'll do anything to get Georgia back." Anne said.

Sandy answered the call. "…Yeah, I've got the money. Just tell me what you want." Sandy paused then indicated to Anne to write down what he was going to say. "Columbia Park. 5am." Sandy paused "Michael don't hurt Georgia, all right? Michael…"

He had hung up.

Dave sighed. "12 hours. Gives us plenty time to plan."

---------------------

LEGEND: 29.5 HOURS MISSING

Sandy sat on the park bench, his black briefcase next to him. He put his hands to his forehead as he waited.

Then a BMW with two men inside pulled up nearby. Michael got out of the car holding onto Georgia.

Sandy looked up and saw both men approaching him and slowly he got to his feet. Michael held onto Georgia's arm tightly and a gun in her back.

"Make a sound and I'll kill ya." Michael whispered into Georgia's ear.

"Is that the money?" The other man, Steve, asked Sandy.

"Yeah. Count it." Sandy said, shakily handing him the briefcase.

The kidnapper knelt down and opened the bag, quickly counting the cash.

"$750,000." Sandy told him.

"We said a million!" Michael said tightening his grip on Georgia who winced.

"Where's the rest of it?" Steve snapped.

"It's nearby. I can have it to you quickly." Sandy said, trying to keep them calm.

Steve took out a gun and pointed it at Sandy. The FBI officers watched them carefully. "Nearby? What do you mean, nearby?" Steve questioned. "You better tell me where my money is right now!"

Sandy held up his hands to try and calm him down. Shivers of fear rippled through his body when the gun was aimed at his chest. "Just... give Georgia to me, just so I know you're good on your word."

Seth, Ryan, Kirsten and also Officers Anne and Dan where hidden behind a van beside the park. Seth looked down at his side. He saw Anne wrapping her fingers around her gun tightly, ready to fire.

"No, no, no, no! You don't tell me what to do. I tell you. I tell you! And I said a million dollars!"

"You'll get it. I swear." Sandy begged.

Michael took a step forward and pointed the gun directly at Georgia's forehead. Georgia scrunched up her face tightly and started to shake. From a distance Kirsten saw and her eyes went wide. She grabbed onto Ryan's arm beside her. "Oh my god, no, please." Kirsten whispered to herself. Ryan took her hand and squeezed it back tightly.

"Alright, alright! Just calm down! Calm down!" Sandy said panicking.

"Where is the rest of my money? I'm not fooling around man!" Michael threatened Sandy.

Connley Ray stepped out of his position from behind a tree, as did, Dan and Anne, standing beside Seth. Connley raised his weapon and shouted while Dan waved the people in the vicinity away.

"FBI!" Anne shouted.

"Down! Get down!" Dan shouted.

"Drop your weapon!" Connley added.

Seth, Ryan and Kirsten came out of hiding and stood beside Officer Dan.

"Shoot him!" Seth yelled at Dan. "Why aren't you shooting him?"

"He's got a gun to Georgia's face!" Ryan yelled at him.

"We can't risk hitting your sister." Dan told him.

"Drop your weapons!" Connley shouted.

Steve dropped his gun. "Michael, man, just put the gun down...give me the fucking gun!" Steve said panicking when he saw all the police around him.

"I want my money! Give me my money!" Michael shouted, keeping his gun pressured on Georgia's forehead.

"We have the money, man, just let go of her." Steve said.

"There are 20 armed police officers surrounding you, drop your weapon and let go of the girl!" Anne shouted.

"Come on Sandy, come on." Kirsten whispered.

"You can't get outta this" Sandy said cautiously to Michael. He paused for long time. "Just let her go…give her to me...come on Michael."

Sandy then saw Michael dig the gun into Georgia's head harder and she squealed and tried to pull away.

"No!" He screamed and he tried to release Michael's grip from around Georgia; pulling on his arm. Michael swung around, holding onto Georgia's wrist and shot open fires.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The crowd and close public screamed. "Everybody down!" Ryan yelled. He started to wheel Kristen back behind the van but she hit him and told him to turn her around. He only half listened to her, hiding her and himself behind the front bonnet of the car.

Anne shot at Michael and Georgia fell to the ground in a ball. "Georgia!" Kirsten screamed and Seth wheeled her around the car while Ryan ran ahead. Michael fell back, shot in chest, dead. Sandy stumbled back but was ok.

Ryan skidded down in front of Georgia and picked her up in his arms, carrying her to safety, away from Steve and Michael. Kirsten stood up and Ryan put Georgia down in front of her and mother and daughter threw themselves into each others arms, falling to the ground. Kirsten held her tightly and rubbed her back. Georgia held onto her mum so tightly Kirsten thought she might snap. "Oh baby, you're ok now. You're safe, you're safe." Kirsten said.

Kirsten pulled back, brushing the dusty hair off her daughter's face. "Did they hurt you? Did they touch you?"

Georgia shook her head. "No, no, no. They didn't touch me."

When Sandy came over Kirsten and Georgia parted slightly to allow for the third person into the hug. Georgia's arms were around both her mother and father. They hugged each other tightly.

Eventually Georgia stood up and hugged both her brothers. "Good to have you back GG." Seth said smiling and kissing her forehead.

"They didn't hurt you did they?" Ryan asked.

"I'm ok Ryan." Georgia smiled. "I'm back."

--------

Georgia sat in the back off an ambulance when CSI Connley came over to her. "Hi Georgia. My name is Connley Ray. I'm the head of the crime unit."

"Connley?" Georgia echoed.

"Yeah." Connley smiled. "That's a funny name, isn't it? It's Gaelic."

Georgia smiled at him, squinting as the burning hot sun was blinding her. "I'm Scottish."

"You know I thought you had an accent."

Georgia nodded. "Well I am but in a very complicated way."

"It's a lot different out here isn't it?" Georgia nodded. Connley noticed Georgia's hands were shaking. "Some people out here, they're a lot more self-involved. They don't care about what happens to others, they only think about themselves; having fun." Georgia looked at him. "Not everyone is like that."

"I know." Georgia said softly. She held up her hands and squeezed them into fists as hard as she could in front of him. "It'll stop."

Connley smiled and sat down beside her in the ambulance "I believe I have something of yours." Connley searched in his trousers pocket and brought out a sparkling silver chain. Georgia's eyes lit up. "My necklace."

"Thanks for all your clues." He said and Georgia smirked.

Connley then handed her is card as well. "If you ever want to join the crime unit call this number, in the meantime if you ever want to talk, just give me a ring."

Georgia took the card. "Thanks."

"What a day." Connley said quietly. They sat back both looking out into the distance as the sun rose against the horizon of Orange County.


	16. The Hero

**Ok so I'm really really sorry that I haven't updated in pretty much forever but I've just had a lot of conflict with myself deciding on whether I should continue or not. And I was't going to but I was reading back over some of the reviews I got and well you guys actually treat me pretty great. I've decided to keep going for the moment. I've also been reading over Something Unpredictable and I think I'm going to do more chapters like then. LESS drama perhaps lol. So here's a start….please tell me what you think and if you want anything particular to happen you can definatly mention that! **

------------------------------------

Georgia sat in the lifeguard tower on the beach by herself. She let the humid wind blow lose strands of hair over her face. She felt totally remote; no one was up yet. Not even the sun. It was a few days after the kidnapping and Georgia was still finding herself trying to readjust. She didn't even notice when someone walked up the ramp and stood next to her.

"Want some company?" Georgia looked up and smiled when she saw a familiar face in a black Armani suit with a white shirt tucked neatly into his trousers.

"Sure." She answered and Connley Ray sat down beside her.

"How are you holding up?" He asked her.

Georgia paused and said "I'm keeping my head above the water." softly without looking at Connley.

"Is that why you are hands are still shaking?" He asked sympathetically in a strong Californian accent.

Georgia looked at her hands, clenched her fists then looked at Connley. She opened her mouth but it took a second for the words to come out. "I thought it would have stopped by now."

"You know what I find relaxes me, Georgia? Reading. Do you like to read?"

"Mmm…for school. When I have to really. I read magazines. Music magazines."

"Well I don't think NME will help you in this situation." He paused and Georgia half smiled at him. "You should read about the Greek myths."

"Oh sacrifice to the gods?" Georgia asked half sarcastically as she vaguely remembered doing Ancient Greece in school.

"No, the Greek myths are not about the gods they're about the heroes. And Georgia, you're a hero."

"Yeah, right." Georgia said looking at him blankly.

"No really. With everything that you've been through….and the spirit you bring to those around you. What did each of the heroes have to go through before they could fulfil their quest?" He asked her.

Georgia frowned at him. "They all had to go to a dark place and face the scariest thing they thought of."

Connley smiled at her and nodded. "That's right. And I don't think I've ever met such a brave teenager." Georgia smiled. "Come on. Let's get you back to your parents before they start to worry."

---------------------------

"Morning Georgia sweetie." Kirsten welcomed her. She was doing a crossword at the kitchen table. Thankfully she didn't notice her sneaking in the front door.

"Morning."

"I found this add for dance classes. I was wondering if you would like to go."

Georgia gave an amused smirk. "Uh no!"

"Why not? You used to do ballet."

"Yeah and I stopped for a reason."

"Why?"

"I hated it! It was so girly and phoney."

"I used to love ballet! I did it until I was 17 and I loved it."

"Well that's the difference between you and me."

"Ok well what would you prefer to do?"

"Basketball, swimming, surfing, roller-blading and Ash is teaching me baseball, that's pretty cool. Kinda like rounders." Kirsten had confirmed her suspicions; her daughter was a bit of a tom-boy; very sporty and hated girlish things- like baby pink, ballet and she didn't know how to make daisy chains.

"But I thought you enjoyed that ballet you went to last Chrismukkah with dad."

"Are you kidding we went to the Knicks/Clippers game-" Georgia started smiling but then realised Kirsten had never found that out judging by the frown creasing her forehead. "Oh…" Georgia trailed with a nervous laugh.

Sandy walked into the kitchen.

"Morning ladies. What are you talking about?"

Kirsten wheeled herself away from the table. "Oh just that ballet you and Georgia went to last Chrismukkah. You remember don't you? The Nutcracker." She said with a sly smile.

Sandy smiled slightly as he opened a bottle of water ignoring eye contact. "Uh yeah sure."

"You know I never got round to asking you how it was?"

Sandy turned away from her and fiddled about with items on the kitchen counter. "…It was…magical…one of the best ballet performances of all time."

Kirsten looked at the fridge. "Yeah…you brought back the programme. Oh look here." She pulled it off the fridge. "This is what John Gordon the New York Times reviewer thought; it was magical. One of the best ballet performances of all time."

Sandy faked surprise. "Isn't that amazing that we would have the same opinions. Great minds think alike."

Georgia grinned and was about to start laughing. Kirsten chuckled slightly at Sandy. "You went to a basketball game."

"No, no." He swallowed his water. "We did go to the ballet."

"Oh yeah…and how did it end?"

"The audience woke up and stumbled to their cars." Sandy teased. Georgia started to laugh but saw Kirsten wasn't amused so she excused herself and went to call Elle.

"Ok Tommy from next-door won courtside tickets. _Courtside tickets! _And gave them to me. Do you know how rare they are?"

Kirsten smiled and turned to put the dishes from breakfast in the dishwasher. "Ok, yes I understand that but do you know what you taught Georgia that day? That basketball was cool and ballet wasn't."

"No I didn't. We were only there for 30 minutes, had we been there longer she may have been able to…" Kirsten put up her hands and turned away. Sandy laughed at her. "No, no hunny. Georgia's 15 she can make those decisions herself."

Kirsten smiled and shrugged. "I know but it's just that Seth has his comics, Ryan has his ladies and Georgia was my last hope of opening her mind to something outside of science-fiction and boy land."

"But she likes sports." Sandy said sympathetically.

"Right and there's nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't ask her to change." Kristen put her hands on Sandy's arms. She spoke softly. "I don't mind that you don't like some of the things I like, just make it ok for _the kids_ to like what I like."

Sandy smiled and nodded. "Ok."

Georgia came back into the kitchen with the phone in her hand. "Mum, is it cool if Elle sleeps over tonight?"

"Yeah sure." Kirsten smiled.

"Oh and could you please drive us to the skate park? The one at Laguna Hills?"

"Uh sure." Kirsten nodded.

"Don't you want to go for a surf?" Sandy asked smiling but a little insulted.

Georgia paused. "Uh...ye-…ok Elle it's all cool but could you come round at lunch? I need to go surfing with my dad…great. Ok see you then." She hung up and looked up at Sandy. "Ok I'll go change." She brushed passed Seth and Ryan as she left.

"Morning boys." Kirsten said.

"Hey, oh by the way Sandy, uh the water in the poolhouse shower is coming back up."

"Ugh there's probably something blocking it. I'll go have a look. Thanks Ryan."

"Honey, take off your wedding ring. I don't want it going down the drain." Kirsten said.

"Right." Sandy said tugging it off and putting it on the counter. Kirsten followed him out, going into her bedroom to get changed.

Seth sighed. "Dad shouldn't put his ring g by the sink, it's doomed to fall down, he should put it here." He said moving it along the counter and in doing so, he slipped. The ring fell out of his hand and went into the air vent. "oh no." Seth's eyes went wide.

Sandy walked in. "Oh no what?" Seth spun around looking guilty. "Uh uh uh uh" He stuttered. "You know your wedding ring?"

"You lost my wedding ring!"

"No, no uh not lost. Just uh misplaced." Seth eyed the vent. Sandy rolled his eyes.

"Well…" He handed him a spanner. "Here. You can get it out."

-------------------

"Ahh!" Georgia and Sandy screamed as the rain pounded on their backs while they ran towards the diner for cover. Their surfing time was interrupted by a mild monsoon. When they finally got inside it was jam-packed with people. Georgia weaved through the crowd to get to the toilets and Sandy grabbed a seat at a table while it was free.

The woman sitting at the table beside Sandy started to look him up and down. She sighed. "How long is this rain supposed to last?"

Sandy realised she was speaking to him and so turned himself to face her slightly. "Not long hopefully." He looked around to the blurred out window. "I've got to get back home so I can go to work."

The woman took an interest in Sandy. "What do you do?"

"I'm a lawyer." Sandy said.

"Really?" The woman grinned impressed. "What type?"

"Public Defence."

"Wow. I'm a marketing director for T-Mobile."

Sandy hesitated. "…I have a phone."

The woman laughed. "Oh no, it's ok. I'm not on duty." She offered Sandy her hand. "I'm Karen."

"Sandy Cohen."

Thunder stroke. "Looks like we're going to be here for a while." Karen stood up. "Do you want to join me for a drink?"

Sandy realised Karen was hitting on him. He stood up. "No." He said bluntly and Karen was obviously upset. "Oh sorry." Sandy apologised sincerely. "What I meant was I'm married."

"Oh gosh!" Karen smirked. "Oh I'm so sorry. I didn't realise. You-you're not wearing a ring."

Sandy laughed. "I have to thank my un-coordinated son for that." Karen looked confused but laughed at the charming man. Georgia came back from the bathroom.

"Karen this is my daughter Georgia."

"Hi." Georgia said but then ignored her. "Dad we need to go. I have to get ready for school."

"Nice talking to you." Sandy said as he followed his daughter out the diner into the rain. "You too Sandy." Karen replied.

-----------------------------

Georgia and Sandy dashed into the house, drenched. They came in through the back to avoid dripping all over the rest of the house. Kirsten giggled to herself as she saw them run past the window in the rain.

"How was surfing?" She asked with a grin as she emptied the dishwasher.

"Great." Georgia answered as she pulled her soaked t-shirt over her head. "Dad was flirting with 'Karen-marketing-director-for-T-Mobile'"

"Shh!" Sandy nudged Georgia. He turned to Kirsten. "I was not flirting." He smiled calmly.

"So what were you doing with 'Karen-marketing-director-for-T-Mobile'?" Kirsten asked.

"Don't worry mum; he shot her down really quickly." Georgia smiled devilishly at Sandy before going to shower.

Sandy raised his eyebrows and smiled nervously. "Nothing…she saw me without my wedding ring and started to, you know, check me out."

"I'm out without a ring on for an hour and already I'm getting hit on."

Kirsten folded her arms and grinned at him. "So you're pretty proud of this huh?"

Sandy nodded positively. "Yeah, I felt like a real hunk." He paused. "And it's actually a compliment to you."

Kirsten frowned. "How is that…exactly?" She asked mockingly.

"You are married to a very desirable man."

Kirsten smiled at him cunningly. She moved right up close to him and put her hands on his shoulders. "Do you think so?" She softly kissed his lips.

Sandy slid his hands on her waist. "Mmmhmmm" A short kiss. "I do."

"Mum!" Georgia yelled as she came into the kitchen, Elle behind her. Sandy pulled away from Kirsten. "Since its raining, can Elle and I build a ramp in the garage?"

"A ramp?" Kirsten continued. The girls nodded smiling. Kirsten smiled. "Yeah go ahead." She looked to Sandy and laughed then turned her head again calling after the girls. "Don't chop off your fingers!"

-----------------------------------

The girls were laughing together as they built the ramp when Braden knocked on the garage door.

"Come in!" Georgia sang. She looked up and saw Braden. "Get out!"

"Your mom said you were in here." He said.

"Great. I'll be sure to lie to her next time."

Braden walked in, his hands in his pockets. "Look Georgia I'm sorry. I didn't know that Michael knew you knew, ok? I wouldn't tell him that you did. I wouldn't do that to you."

"Ok." Georgia said coldly.

"Great so we're cool?" He asked hesitantly.

"No we're not." Georgia stated.

"Well you believe me right?" Braden asked.

Georgia looked up at Braden. "Yeah I believe you're sorry."

"Well then what?"

"I'm just not sure we should be hanging out for a while, k? It's just a bad idea. I need my space."

Braden nodded defeated, clearly upset, and left without saying a word. There was a silence. "Well that was a bit harsh." Elle said.

"Are you taking the piss? He could've got me killed."

"We all make mistakes Georgia. You know that if Braden had gone to the police about Michael, Michael would have gone after him. Probably you as well." Georgia paused. "Look he really cares about you. He really likes you. He's not worth losing as a friend."

Georgia sighed. "You're right." She jumped up.

----

Georgia ran onto the drive where the rain beat down like there was no tomorrow. "Braden!" She yelled. Braden was only a few metres away, picking up his skateboard, but the loud rain made it hard to hear. Braden turned around and saw her. Both said nothing for a moment. "I'm sorry I was mad!" Georgia started. "I was just being stupid and scared and I wasn't thinking about what you would have to sacrifice for me! The truth is…I'm glad you didn't say anything….because I don't think I could live with myself if Michael had taken you instead of me."

Braden smiled and nodded. "So…we're cool?"

Georgia laughed at him. "Yeah Braden, we're cool."

---

**Please rate and review. I know this was kind of AU which thank u 2 Panz 4 explaining what that meant! Lol ALLY GET WELL SOON!**


End file.
